On Thursday, December 5th, U.S. markets closed lower as tech shares eased and UnitedHealth’s sharp decline weighed on major indexes. Synopsys and health insurance stocks fell amid weaker forecasts and uncertainty following UnitedHealth’s CEO’s murder. Investors await Friday’s jobs report amid rising unemployment claims.

In economic data, U.S. jobless claims rose to 224,000 last week, exceeding expectations of 215,000. The trade deficit narrowed to $73.8 billion in October, beating market estimates of $75 billion and improving from September’s $83.8 billion gap.

Most S&P 500 sectors fell, led by industrials, materials, and healthcare, while consumer discretionary and staples outperformed, closing higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.55% and closed at 44,765.71, the S&P 500 declined 0.19% to 6,075.11, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.18% to finish at 19,700.26.

Asia Markets Today

• On Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.80% and ended the session at 39,068.50, led by losses in the Transportation Equipment, Power, and Textile sectors.
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.64% and ended the day at 8,420.90, led by losses in the Energy, Consumer Discretionary, and Gold sectors.
• India’s Nifty 50 slid 0.18% to 24,664.45, while the Nifty 500 gained 0.09%, closing at 23,299.20.
• China’s Shanghai Composite gained 1.05% to close at 3,404.08, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 rose 1.31%, finishing the day at 3,973.14.
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.56% and closed the session at 19,865.85.

Eurozone at 05:30 AM ET

• The European STOXX 50 index was up 0.56%.
• Germany’s DAX rose 0.28%.
• France’s CAC gained 1.38%.
• U.K.’s FTSE 100 index traded higher by 0.07%.

Commodities at 05:30 AM ET

• Crude Oil WTI was trading lower by 0.66% at $67.87/bbl, and Brent was down 0.71% at $71.60/bbl.
• Oil prices fell amid weak demand concerns, and OPEC+ delayed supply increases to 2026, citing slowing demand, especially in China.
• Natural Gas declined 1.69% to $3.0.27.
• Gold was trading higher by 0.39% at $2,658.39, Silver was up 0.65% to $31.740, and Copper rose 1.17% to $4.2417.

U.S. Futures at 05:30 AM ET

Dow futures were down 0.02%, S&P 500 futures slid 0.07% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.02%.

Forex at 05:30 AM ET

• The U.S. dollar index rose 0.15% to 105.88, the USD/JPY rose 0.36% to 150.62, and the USD/AUD gained 0.51% to 1.5577.
• The U.S. dollar edged higher Friday as traders awaited the November jobs report.

Photo by Pavel Bobrovskiy via Shutterstock