NEW YORK, UNITED STATES | Wall Street stocks fell again Wednesday, extending a gloomy week as the job market cooled further and oil prices tumbled.
The US private sector added 103,000 jobs in November, according to the latest ADP report, below October's level and well under analyst estimates.
The figures follow Tuesday's report of a drop in job openings and ahead of Friday's monthly government data.
Meanwhile, US crude oil prices fell more than four percent to finish below $70 a barrel for the first time in five months, denting petroleum-linked shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 percent to 36,054.43.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.4 percent to 4,549.34,while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.6 percent to 14,146.71.
Stocks have been choppy so far in December as markets have struggled to add to gains from a strong November, when equities were boosted by expectations the Federal Reserve would refrain from additional restrictive actions.
Among individual companies, Avis Budget Group rose 2.8 percent after announcing a special dividend of 10 cents per share.
Campbell Soup climbed 7.1 percent as it reported better than expected profits as it confirmed its forecasts while saying the company is off to "an encouraging start" in the holiday season.
Petroleum-linked shares were under pressure, with Apache down 2.2 percent and Halliburton 3.6 percent.
ExxonMobil dropped 1.3 percent despite announcing a medium-term investment plan that includes an increased pace in share repurchases to $20 billion per year.
