Stocks continued to decline Thursday as tensions in the Middle East impacted fourth-quarter outlooks at the start of October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 180 points, while the S&P 500 Index lost about 0.2% and Nasdaq Composite settled below the flatline.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.17% or -9.60 points to 5,699.94

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -0.44% or -184.93 points to 42,011.59

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.04% or -6.65 points to 17,918.48

In Economic News:

U.S. Services posted its strongest performance in more than a year and a half during September, according to the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) survey reported Thursday. The ISM services index showed that 54.9% of businesses reported expansion last month, up from 51.9% in August and marking the highest reading since February 2023.

Initial Unemployment Filings rose above expectations last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, while the four-week moving average edged lower.

First-time jobless claims totaled 225,000 for the week ending Sept. 28, up 6,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised print. Continuing claims, which run a week behind, were little changed at 1.826 million.

On the Earnings Front:

Levi Strauss (LEVI  ) reported mixed earnings late Wednesday and announced it is considering selling off its Dockers brand, which has been impacting its overall business. The company reaffirmed its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance of $1.17 to $1.27, in-line with analyst expectations, but cut its revenue guidance to see sales growth of 1%, compared with its previous range of between 1% and 3%.

"Over the last couple of years, the [Dockers] brand has underperformed," CEO Harmit Singh told CNBC in an interview. "We felt this was the right decision for the long term. Our view financially is the exit of Dockers will improve the company's overall margins and also minimize volatility in top-line growth."

In the News:

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A  ) sold another series of its Bank of America (BAC  ) shares during the past three trading sessions, bringing its remaining stake to 10.2%. The conglomerate sold more than 8.5 million shares of the bank worth $338 million, according to a new regulatory filing. Berkshire has sold more than $9 billion worth of the stock since mid-July.

Toyota Motor (TM  ) announced late Wednesday it will invest another $500 million in Joby Aviation (JOBY  ) to support the company's certification and commercial production of its electric air taxi. Toyota's new funding adds to its $394 million previously invested and is part of a strategic alliance on commercial manufacturing between the two.

Amazon (AMZN  ) announced plans to hire 250,000 transportation and warehouse workers for this year's holiday season, matching the same hiring goal as last year despite consumer e-commerce spending expected to outpace overall holiday spending in the last year of the year. Consumers are expected to spend a record $240.8 billion online this holiday season, up 4.9% year-over-year, CNBC reports.

"Although there is an anticipated increase in the demand and the volume, we feel like the 250,000 is the right number to continue to grow and advance with our operations," said Sandy Gordon, vice president of Global Operation Employee Experience at Amazon, in a statement.

For Friday:

Market participants will turn their attention towards the Labor Department's jobs report for September on Friday, which is expected to show 150,000 private payroll additions.