Most U.S. stocks fell Thursday following a mixed round of data on the economy, keeping them on track for their worst week since April.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% for a third straight drop, and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 219 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite held up better than the rest of the market and added 0.3% thanks to gains for Tesla and a handful of other Big Tech stocks.

Treasury yields also slipped a bit in the bond market following the mixed economic reports. One suggested U.S. companies slowed their hiring last month, falling well short of economists’ forecasts for an acceleration. Another report, though, said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than expected. That’s an indication layoffs remain low.

A report released later in the morning offered more optimism, saying growth for businesses in the finance, health care and other services industries was stronger last month than economists expected.

Stocks have struggled this week after another dud of a report on U.S. manufacturing reignited worries about the slowing U.S. economy and how much it could hurt corporate profits. That has raised the stakes for a highly anticipated report scheduled for Friday.

That’s when the U.S. government will say how many jobs U.S. employers added last month, and economists are expecting an acceleration of hiring.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.73% from 3.76% late Wednesday. It’s down from 4.70% in April, which is a significant move for the bond market.

The two-year Treasury yield was sitting at 3.74%, just above the 10-year yield.

On Wall Street, Verizon’s stock slipped 0.4% after it announced it’s buying Frontier Communications in a $20 billion deal to strengthen its fiber network. Frontier Communications, which soared nearly 38% the day before, gave back 9.5%.

On the winning end of Wall Street was Tesla. It rose 4.9% after laying out a roadmap for upcoming artificial-intelligence developments, including the possibility of full self-driving in Europe and China.

All told, the S&P 500 dipped 16.66 points to 5,503.41. The Dow dropped 219.22 to 40,755.75, and the Nasdaq composite rose 43.36 to 17,127.66.

— Associated Press