Marseille's title chances hang by a thread heading into Ligue 1 showdown with PSG

PARIS (AP) — Marseille's trip to play bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain could prove to be a turning point in Ligue 1.

Marseille is in third place and trails defending champion PSG by nine points and second-placed Lens by seven.

Victory for Marseille on Sunday would drag it back into the title race but a defeat would all but end hopes of winning a first league title since 2010, and open the door for Lyon to move into third spot in the race for a Champions League berth next season.

Marseille's attack has scored freely and English forward Mason Greenwood is on 22 goals in all competitions.

But while Marseille has outscored even PSG in the league — 46 goals to 43 — the defense is poor and the team panics under pressure, too often giving away soft goals.

Despite all his talk about resolving these glaring issues, coach Roberto De Zerbi still has not done so.

For all of its deficiencies Marseille has competed well against PSG this season.

Marseille beat PSG 1-0 in September and was seconds away from another win in the Champions Trophy last month, until PSG equalized deep in stoppage time and won the penalty shootout.

Lens will move back to the top providing it beats Rennes at home on Saturday and PSG then loses on Sunday.

Resurgent Lyon is level on points with Marseille and trails on goal difference ahead of its trip to Nantes on Saturday. Lyon is on an 11-game winning streak overall, while changing coach has not stopped the rot for a Nantes side languishing in 16th place.

Nice hosts Monaco in the French Riviera derby on Sunday with both sides slowly showing signs of improvement.

Nice has more fight under hard-nosed coach Claude Puel, coming back from 2-0 down in the past two games to draw and win.

Coach Sébastien Pocognoli's Monaco kept three straight clean sheets ahead of the French Cup game at Strasbourg later Thursday.

Endrick's loan move from Real Madrid to Lyon is working out even better than expected. With a spectacular goal in the French Cup on Wednesday, the 19-year-old Brazil forward took his Lyon tally to five in five games.

Veteran Nantes goalkeeper Anthony Lopes has the task of stopping Endrick and faces the side for which he made nearly 500 appearances from 2012-24.

Paris FC hopes the signing of veteran striker Ciro Immobile will kickstart a flagging attack. He netted 169 league goals for Lazio during an eight-year spell. During the 2019-20 season he finished as the “Capocannoniere” (top scorer) with 36 goals, beating Cristiano Ronaldo (then with Juventus) to the award.

Overall, the 35-year-old Immobile has 304 goals in 587 club appearances and scored 17 times for Italy.

PSG will be without star right back Achraf Hakimi, who is suspended following his red card at Strasbourg last weekend. PSG's flanks will be weakened without Georgia winger Khvitcha Kvaratskhelia, who has a right ankle injury.

Lyon is waiting to see if midfielder Corentin Tolisso has recovered from a right hamstring injury. The influential midfielder has missed the past three games.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Brazil's Endrick, right, dribbles the ball followed by Uruguay's Nahitan Nandez, left, and Jose Gimenez during a Copa America quarterfinal soccer match in Las Vegas, Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)

FILE - Bologna's Ciro Immobile, left, in a duel with Stuttgart's Luca Jaquez during their pre-season friendly soccer match in Stuttgart, Germany, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (Bernd Weissbrod/dpa via AP, File)

PSG's coach Luis Enrique gestures during a Champions League opening phase soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle in Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Marseille's Mason Greenwood controls the ball during the French League One soccer match between Paris FC and Marseille in Paris, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Marseille's head coach Roberto De Zerbi gives instructions during the French League One soccer match between Paris FC and Marseille in Paris, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

NEW YORK (AP) — Dropping technology stocks are dragging the U.S. market lower again on Thursday, while prices for bitcoin, silver and gold fall sharply. Yields are also sinking in the bond market following discouraging news on the U.S. job market.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and is heading toward its sixth loss in the seven days since it set an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 326 points, or 0.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.

Alphabet helped drag the market lower by sinking 5.4%, even though the parent company of Google reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on how much Alphabet is spending on artificial-intelligence technology and questioned whether it will all prove worth it.

Alphabet said its spending on equipment and other investments could double this year to roughly $180 billion. That blew past analysts’ expectations of less than $119 billion, according to FactSet.

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank after a report said the number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week by more than economists expected. That could be a signal that the pace of layoffs is accelerating.

Some economists suggested last week’s rise could be statistical noise, and the total number remains relatively low compared with history. But a separate report released in the morning said that layoffs announced by U.S.-based employers surged last month. The 108,435 was the highest number for a month since October, according to global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. For a January, it’s the worst since 2009.

Weakness in the job market could push the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to support the economy, even if it also risks worsening inflation. Treasury yields fell across the board in response.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.23% from 4.29% late Wednesday.

The moves were even sharper in commodities markets.

Silver’s price tumbled 12.1% in its latest wild swing since its record-breaking momentum suddenly halted last week.

Gold’s price fell 1.9% to $4,855.00 per ounce. It’s been careening back and forth since it roughly doubled in price over 12 months. It neared $5,600 last week and then fell below $4,500 on Monday.

Both gold and silver had been screaming higher as investors piled into places they thought would be safer amid worries about political turmoil, a U.S. stock market that critics called expensive and huge debt loads for governments worldwide. But nothing can keep rising at such extreme rates forever, and critics had been calling for a pullback.

Bitcoin, which is pitched as the “digital gold,” also sank. It briefly dropped below $70,000, down from its record above $124,000 set in October.

On Wall Street, Qualcomm fell 9.1% even though the chip company topped analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue in the latest quarter. Its forecast for profit in the current quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations as an industrywide shortage of memory pushes some handset makers to cut back on orders.

Outside of tech, Estee Lauder also topped Wall Street targets but said it expects tariff-related headwinds to wipe out about $100 million worth of profits in its fiscal year. The New York cosmetic company’s shares sank 16.9%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9% after the Bank of England held interest rates there steady. France’s CAC 40 fell 0.6%, and Germany’s DAX lost 1.1% after the European Central Bank likewise stood pat on interest rates.

South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 3.9% for one of the world’s biggest moves and dropped from its all-time high. Samsung Electronics dropped 6%, just two days after it had surged 11.4%.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Trader Joseph Stevens, foreground, works with colleagues on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency traders watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Anthony Matesic works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)