US stocks were little changed on Friday after a government report showed job growth slowed last month as forecast, leaving expectations for a modest Federal Reserve interest-rate cut intact. Shares of American Express and Capital One Financial were among the biggest decliners after brokerages downgraded the credit-card issuers' stocks.
Stocks had risen in recent days after comments by Fed officials hinting of a willingness to cut rates to revive the economy. Wall Street widely expects the US central bank to cut its benchmark fed funds rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent when it meets on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 24.88 points, or 0.18 percent, at 13,644.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.95 points, or 0.13 percent, at 1,509.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up just 0.84 of a point, or 0.03 percent, at 2,709.87.
Shares of Palm fell after the Treo phone's maker warned late on Thursday that it would post a quarterly loss. Its stock slid 12.8 percent to $5.75, after earlier plunging as low as $5.33.
American Express fell 3.7 percent to $57.36 after Stifel Nicolaus cut its rating on the stock, as did Merrill Lynch, theflyonthewall.com, a financial Web site, reported. Capital One shares were down 4 percent at $50.32 after being downgraded to "underweight" from "overweight" by Morgan Stanley, theflyonthewall.com said.