US STOCKS stocks hold tight ahead of Payrolls

U.S. stocks fluctuated wildly Thursday as jitters over Friday’s employment report for May dominated sentiment.

Ahead of the opening bell, data showed that U.S. jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 346,000 in the week ended June 1, essentially in line with expectations.

The Labor Department’s jobs report is slated to be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday. Economists expect a rise of 164,000 in nonfarm payrolls and an unchanged jobless rate of 7.5%.

The odds of a smaller increase in payrolls, however, grew Wednesday after a disappointing ADP report on private-sector jobs.

Telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc.  rose 3.3%, the biggest gainer in the Dow. Oil major Chevron Corp.  fell 1.5%, the biggest decliner in the blue-chip index.

Food company J.M. Smucker Co.  was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500, falling 4.2%.

Shares of L Brands Inc.  fell 2.6% after the company said its monthly same-store sales rose 3%. Analysts expected a same-store-sales increase of 3.2%.

Shares of SodaStream International Ltd.  added 5%. Israel’s Calcalist newspaper reported that PepsiCo Inc. is in talks to buy SodaStream for $2 billion. However, a PepsiCo spokesman told that the report was “completely and totally untrue.”

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