STOCKS HOLD MOSTLY LOWER; US JOBS REPORT IN FOCUS
U.S. stocks traded mostly lower on Thursday as investors looked ahead to a key employment report."I think a large part of it is a good jobless claims number, which certainly gives more weight to tomorrow's jobs report," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank.The Dow Jones industrial average held about 15 points lower, with Wal-Mart and American Express contributing the most losses. The S&P 500 traded just above the flatline, with materials leading advancers. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.13 percent, as the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) fell more than 2 percent.