U.S. Markets Drop On Late Sell Off

New York, NY (AHN) - U.S. markets traded relatively unchanged for most of Thursday until sellers took over in the last hour of trade as investors looked for the exits ahead of the November employment report Friday morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 215 points or 2.5 percent. 25 of 30 Dow components finished the session lower. Shares of Alcoa, down 16 percent, weighed on the Dow after a JP Morgan analyst said the aluminum giant will likely suspend its dividend as it looks to raise cash.

General Motors also provided a drag, down 13 percent as shares were pushed lower with lawmakers showing skepticism over proposed aid plans.

The S&P 500 shed 25 points or 2.9 percent. Nine of 10 major economic sectors finished lower. The consumer discretionary sector, up 0.3 percent was the lone gainer. The retail stocks, up 1.5 percent helped the sector squeeze out a gain.

Retailers posted declining same-store sales for November, but some stores, such as Macy's posted a smaller than expected decline.

The energy sector was the main laggard, down 6.2 percent as crude oil continued its slide. Oil finished Thursday $3.12 lower to settle at $43.67 a barrel, marking a four year low for the commodity.

Tech fell as well, the Nasdaq Composite lost 46 points or 3.1 percent. The semiconductor stocks dragged on tech, down 5.7 percent on Thursday.

In corporate news, AT&T announced it will cut 12,000 jobs, rough 4 percent of its staff over the next several quarters. DuPont came out and issued downside earnings guidance for the fourth quarter.

On the economic front, initial unemployment claims for the week ending Nov. 29 fell 21,000 to 509,000. That was better than the 540,000 economists expected, but continuing claims did rise to 4.09 million.

Friday's market will see the Department of Labor issue November unemployment data before the opening bell.