NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks were headed for a lower start Thursday, a day after closing out the worst month in over a year, as investors await reports on unemployment claims and manufacturing sentiment.
Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were down between 0.4% and 0.5% ahead of the opening bell. Futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Although stocks ended the last day of August slightly higher, overall it was a brutal month for the market. Investors battled through volatility, starting with the debt ceiling debate.
The turmoil really set in after Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating. That acted as the catalyst for two weeks of wild swings as investors feared the U.S. would tip back into a recession.
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A handful of recent economic reports have provided some relief for investors, but concerns about the recovery remain in the spotlight.
"Leading indicators suggest that this is not the end of the soft-patch period," said Lena Komileva, global head of G10 strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. "The idea that the U.S. economy is growing at a pace that may be too slow to be sustainable is unlikely to fall of investors' radar."
Economy: The Labor Department's closely-watched weekly initial jobless claims data comes out at 8:30 a.m. ET, with economists expecting claims to drop slightly to a reading of 407,000 claims from last week's 417,000 claims.
Jobs recovery sputters
Investors are gearing up for Friday's monthly jobs report. A CNNMoney survey of 19 economists forecasts the U.S. economy added 80,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate remained at 9.1% in August.
Shortly after the market opens, Wall Street will get the Institute for Supply Management's August manufacturing index, as well as construction spending figures from the Commerce Department.
Economists expect the August ISM index will fall to a reading of 48.5 from last month's 50.9, while construction spending figures are expected to increase 0.1%, down slightly from last month's 0.2% increase.
Throughout Thursday, major automakers Ford (F, Fortune 500), Toyota (TM), GM (GM, Fortune 500) and others will report sales figures for August.
Companies: IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) agreed to buy Algorithmics, a Toronto-based risk analytics software company for $387 million.
Costco (COST, Fortune 500) announced that its CEO Jim Sinegal will step down at the start of 2012. The company's president and COO Craig Jelinek will takeover the top spot. Costco also said that same-store sales rose 11% in August from a year ago.
In other management changes, Bank of New York Mellon (BK, Fortune 500) ousted CEO Robert Kelly late Wednesday, citing "differences" in how the company was managed. The bank's president, Gerald Hassell, has taken on the chief executive and chairman roles.
World markets: European stocks were lower in morning trading. Britain's FTSE (FTSE) 100 fell 0.6%, the DAX (DAX) in Germany tumbled 1.6% and France's CAC (CAC) 40 dropped 1.2%.
Asian markets ended the session mixed. The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) fell 0.4%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong (HSI) rose 0.3% and Japan's Nikkei (N225) gained 1.2%.
Currencies and commodities: The dollar gained ground against the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.
Oil for October delivery slipped 53 cents to $88.28 a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery fell $10.10 to $1,821.60 an ounce.
Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 2.20% from 2.22% late Wednesday. 
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