US stocks finished little changed on Thursday, pausing after Wednesday's sharp rally, as investors were cautious about making large bets before Friday's closely watched jobs report. The Nasdaq, however, ended at its highest level since late January.
A sharp drop in crude oil prices for the second straight session knocked down shares of energy-related companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp and ChevronTexaco Corp.
While lower oil prices are good for the stock market as a whole because they help corporate profits and consumer spending, they are bad for energy-related companies.
The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 5.10 points, or 0.05 percent, to finish at 10,585.12. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.04 points, or 0.09 percent, to end at 1,190.33.
But the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 5.34 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 2,143.57, a 10 1/2-month high.
The pause came a day after Wall Street posted sharp gains, with the S&P 500 closing at its highest in nearly 3-1/2 years after oil prices tumbled.
After Thursday's closing bell, shares of Intel Corp initially shot 8 percent higher to $24.70 after the largest maker of microchips raised its quarterly revenue target and cited strong world-wide demand for its microprocessors. During the regular session, Intel fell 1.7 percent, or 39 cents, to close at $22.71.
Later, Intel gave up some of its after-hours gains, but the stock was still up $1.64 at $24.35 on Inet.
In sizing up Thursday's quiet regular session after Wednesday's rally, Ted Oberhaus, manager of equity trading, at Lord Abbett & Co, said, "The market is doing a great job of digesting these gains. I wouldn't consider this to be a down market - it's a very fine performance after a day like yesterday."
Investors were focused on Friday, when a key indicator on jobs - the November US nonfarm payrolls data - will be released at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT).
Economists polled by Reuters forecast that the economy added 180,000 jobs in November, after October's unexpectedly big gain of 337,000. The jobless rate is expected to slip to 5.4 percent in November from 5.5 percent in October. "There's usually caution in front of the employment report - it's a pretty typical pattern that there isn't usually a huge price move in either direction ahead of it," said Paul Cherney, chief market analyst at Standard & Poor's.
Trading was heavy, with 1.77 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, above the 1.4 billion daily average for last year. About 2.40 billion shares were traded on Nasdaq, above the 1.69 billion daily average last year.
Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 5 to 3, and were about even on Nasdaq.
Oil prices fell for the second straight session, with NYMEX crude for January delivery dropping $2.24 to settle at $43.25 a barrel. Exxon Mobil Corp, a Dow component, fell 2 percent, or 98 cents, to $50.17, and rival ChevronTexaco Corp dropped nearly 2 percent, or $1.00, to $52.48.
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