At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index was down by 346.93 points, or 1.15%, to 29,926.94. The S&P500 index decreased by 38.76 points, or 1.02%, to 3,744.52. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index declined by 75.33 points, or 0.68%, to 11,073.31.
The weakness on the Wall Street was due to caution ahead of closely watched monthly nonfarm payrolls numbers due on Friday. Investors are anxiously awaiting the Friday jobs report, which will show how the labor market fared in September, giving the central bank another piece of information about its rate-hike campaign.
Also, the drumbeat of hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials kept stocks on the back foot. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said the benchmark rate will probably be at 4.5% to 4.75% by next spring as officials fret over high core inflation. Minneapolis Fed's Neel Kashkari said the central bank is quite a ways away from pausing its campaign of rate increases, while Cleveland Fed chief Loretta Mester said the US is in an unacceptably high inflation environment.
Tesla Inc shares closed down as Apollo Global Management Inc and Sixth Street Partners, which had been looking to provide financing for Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter deal, are no longer in talks with the billionaire.
Cannabis stocks surged in afternoon trading after the White House announced that President Joe Biden will pardon all federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. Shares of Tilray Brands gained 21%, while Canopy Growth jumped more than 11%.
Energy sector was the sole gainer as crude oil prices rose, holding at three-week highs after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus its allies agreed to cut production targets by 2 million barrels per day (bpd), the largest reduction since 2020.
ECONOMIC NEWS: The Labor Department released a separate report on Thursday showing initial jobless claims climbed to 219,000, an increase of 29,000 from the previous week's revised level of 190,000.
Among Indian ADR, ICICI Bank fell 1.1% to $21.41, Tata Motors fell 1.15% to 24.96, Dr Reddy's Labs fell 2.4% to $52.75, INFOSYS was down 0.9% to $17.48, and Wipro fell by 1.4% to $4.86. Azure Power Global declined 4.2% to $5.46. HDFC Bank fell 0.9% to $59.39, and WNS Holdings shed 0.1% to $84.34.
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