Stocks were under pressure Thursday as investors grew concerned over the health of the U.S. economy ahead of a key labor market report on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 200 points, while the S&P 500 Index lost 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.25%.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.30% or -16.66 points to 5,503.41

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -0.54% or -219.22 points to 40,755.75

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.25% or +43.37 points to 17,127.66

Labor Market Updates:

Private Payrolls rose at their weakest pace is more than three years in August, according to ADP, offering another sign that the labor market is softening. U.S. employers hired 99,000 workers for the month, coming in far below expectations and July's downwardly revised print of 111,000. August also marks the weakest month for job growth since January 2021, according to the payrolls data processing firm.

"The job market's downward drift brought us to slower-than-normal hiring after two years of outsized growth," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, in a statement.

Beneath the headline, only a few sectors reported actual job losses compared with slower hiring: professional and business services fell by 16,000, manufacturing declined by 8,000, and information services lost 4,000. Elsewhere, education and health services added 29,000 positions, construction rose by 27,000, other services increased 20,000, financial activities gained 18,000, and trade, transportation and utilities added 14,000.

ADP's report comes ahead of the Labor Department's "official" jobs report for August on Friday, with consensus forecast expecting payrolls to increase by 161,000 after rising by 114,000 in July, while the unemployment rate is expected to tick lower to 4.2%.

Unemployment Claims dipped lower last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, signaling that the labor market is remaining healthy despite the slowdown in hiring. First time jobless claimed totaled 227,000 for the week ended Aug. 31, falling by 5,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised print. Continuing claims, which are tracked a week behind, also declined by 22,000 to 1.838 million, coming in below estimates.

In Single-Stock News:

Verizon (VZ  ) announced Thursday it will purchased fiber-optic internet provider Frontier Communications (FYBR  ) in a $20 billion, all-cash deal. As part of the deal, Frontier total debt of $11.25 billion as of June 20 will be refinanced by Verizon. Frontier has 2.2 million fiber subscribers in 25 states, which will build on Verizon's roughly 7.4 million subscribers in nine states and Washington, D.C.

"The acquisition of Frontier is a strategic fit. It will build on Verizon's two decades of leadership at the forefront of fiber and is an opportunity to become more competitive in more markets throughout the United States, enhancing our ability to deliver premium offerings to millions more customers across a combined fiber network," said Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg in a statement.

Tesla (TSLA  ) announced Thursday it will launch its "Full Self Driving" driver assistance product in Europe and China in the first quarter of 2025, "pending regulatory approval." FSD is a key part of CEO Elon Musk's strategy to make Tesla more of a technology company outside of electric vehicles. The feature is an upgrade of Tesla's Autopilot driver assistant, which is already available in Europe and China, with the latter also having a premium option called Enhanced Autopilot.

For Friday:

All attention will turn towards the Labor Department's jobs report for August on Friday.