Stock market today: Live updates

Stocks were relatively unchanged on Thursday as investors grow more confident in a December interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded around the flatline, along with the S&P 500. The Nasdaq Composite was also flat.

Investors focused on a report from job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showing announced job cuts in November from U.S. employers moved further ahead of 1 million for the year as corporate restructuring, artificial intelligence and tariffs helped pare job rolls. On Wednesday, numbers from ADP revealed a surprising slump in private payrolls.

Mounting signs that the labor market is softening has led Wall Street to be convinced the Fed will cut rates a quarter percentage point at its Dec. 10 meeting, the last of the year. Markets are pricing in an 87% chance of a cut next Wednesday, far higher than just a couple weeks ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

On Thursday, investors largely overlooked the latest weekly jobless claims numbers that showed new applications for unemployment insurance at their lowest level since Sept. 2022. Jobless claims for the week ending Nov. 29 totaled a seasonally adjusted 191,000, down 27,000 from the prior period and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 220,000. 

Salesforce, a member of the Dow, saw gains after the software company offered a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast.

Other important economic releases this week come Friday when the Commerce Department releases delayed September data on consumer spending and incomes and the personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed’s primary inflation gauge. The University of Michigan will also release its consumer survey for December on Friday.

All three major stock market average are close to record highs after notching gains Wednesday, though the artificial intelligence trade continued to wobble. The tech sector was the biggest laggard among S&P 500 sectors, dragged lower by losses in Microsoft, Nvidia and Broadcom.

Microsoft shares closed 2.5% lower after The Information reported that the company was lowering its software sales targets tied to artificial intelligence. Microsoft refuted the claims in the report, which led the stock to recover from its lows of the session.

“Rotation is often called the ‘lifeblood of a bull market,’ and this cycle has largely featured big-tech leadership followed by broader moves into other cyclical sectors. Recently, however, the rotation away from tech has shifted toward defensive areas, marking the first notable sign of risk aversion since the April rebound,” Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial, wrote in a note to clients. “While this could simply be a pullback from elevated levels, the shift warrants close attention.”

Investors are also keeping an eye for developments on Trump administration’s tariff policies and how the domestic labor market could be affected. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday at The New York Times DealBook Summit that the administration will be able to recreate its tariff agenda, citing several sections of 1962 Trade Act, even if the current tariff structure fails to win in the pending case before the Supreme Court.

— With additional reporting from CNBC’s Jeff Cox