Wall Street lower as weak data dents optimism on economy

The S&P 500 and the Dow were slightly lower on Thursday, after sluggish monthly factory activity data dented optimism about the economy, even as investors count down to a crucial jobs report on Friday. The Nasdaq was higher, boosted by Charter Communications, which rose 4.2 percent after the S&P Dow Jones Indices said the cable services company is set to join the S&P 500 index. Given that the Fed is so data-dependent, the market is worrying about how that will affect the Fed's decisi