Despite a higher opening, major indices on the US stock market failed to recover Thursday from losses in past sessions, as a major selloff continues amid weak labor market conditions.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 151 points, or 0.43%, to 34,879, and the S&P 500 was down 20 points, or 0.46%, to 4,493.

The Nasdaq was off 38 points, or 0.25%, to 15,248 with Novavax and Johnson & Johnson shedding more than 2.2% apiece.

Although Labor Department data showed initial jobless claims fell 35,000 to 310,000 last week, the figure is still off from 256,000 since March 14, 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began.

US stocks have been under pressure since last Friday when figures revealed that the American economy added just 235,000 jobs in August, well below the market estimate of 750,000, indicating a weak labor market.

That was coupled with worries that the Federal Reserve could announce tapering -- the process of starting to reduce accumulating new assets on its balance sheet, at the end of a two-day meeting on Sept. 22.

Those concerns carried the VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, from negative to positive territory with a 4.7% increase to 18.8.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes fell 3.2% to 1.297%, and the dollar index was down 0.15% to 92.51.

Precious metals showed recovery with gold rising to $1,794 per ounce with a 0.3% gain, and silver rising 0.5% to $24.05.

Oil extended losses as Brent crude fell 1.8% to $71.27 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate losing 2% to $67.94./aa