Wall Street dips in early trade on weak jobless claims data

US stocks were lower in early trading Thursday as a weak jobless claims data pushed investors to continue taking profits in a market that had rallied to repeated records.

The day's losses were modest but broad, with nine of the ten primary S&P 500 sectors lower. Utilities, considered a defensive play that outperforms in periods of economic weakness, were the only group in positive territory, gaining 0.1 percent.

Energy shares continued to be weak, falling 0.8 percent as the worst-performing group. The sector has lost 4.6 percent this month amid a 4.9 percent drop in crude oil.

Wall Street has retreated recently, with the S&P 500 on track for its sixth decline in the past eight sessions. While the benchmark index is less than 1 percent from Friday's record close, investors have found few reasons to buy at current levels. The S&P closed under its 14-day moving average for a second straight session on Wednesday in a sign of weakening near-term momentum.

Still, many analysts view the longer-term uptrend as intact. In addition to holding near record levels, the S&P hasn't suffered a prolonged pullback in months, with investors using pronounced market drops as buying opportunities.

"Fundamentally, we're at all-time highs for profits and dividends and global trade, so the market should continue its longer-term trend higher," said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer of Exencial Wealth Advisors in Oklahoma City.

"The one thing the market is concerned about is when interest rates are going to rise, but with the weak jobs data, the Fed has cover to push that back until next year."

Jobless claims rose by 11,000 in the latest week, rising to 315,000. Analysts were expecting a drop of 2,000. The data follows the August payroll report, released last week, which was also weaker than expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 59.27 points, or 0.35 percent, to 17,009.44, the S&P 500 lost 5.91 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,989.78 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 16.44 points, or 0.36 percent, to 4,570.08.

The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Turquoise Hill Resources, up 4.82 percent, while the largest decliner was Brady Corp, down 7.41 percent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were AK Steel Holding, up 2.31 percent to $9.29; Bank of America, up 0.61 percent to $16.46 and Sprint Corp, down 2.11 percent to $6.02.

On the Nasdaq, among the most active were JDS Uniphase, up 11.3 percent to $13.47; Lululemon Athletica, up 16.4 percent to $44.70 and Apple Inc, down 0.7 percent to $100.25.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,775 to 947, for a 1.87-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,433 issues were falling and 786 advancing for a 1.82-to-1 ratio.

The broad S&P 500 index was posting 4 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 19 new highs and 21 new lows.