Wall Street extends losses for third straight day

US stock indices declined during Thursday’s trading session, extending losses for a third consecutive session amid broad-based selling across the markets.

Government data released yesterday showed that the US private sector added 22,000 jobs last month, below expectations that called for 45,000 new jobs, signaling a continued slowdown in the labor market in the world’s largest economy at the start of 2026.

Additional data released today showed that US job openings totaled 6.54 million in December, missing expectations for 7.25 million openings.

Due to the ongoing government shutdown, it was announced yesterday that the US monthly jobs report for January, which had been scheduled for release next Friday, has been postponed and will now be issued on February 11.

In trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.8% (about 408 points) to 49,093 as of 17:16 GMT. The broader S&P 500 index declined by 0.9% (about 62 points) to 6,820, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 1.0% (about 235 points) to 22,668.