Wall Street stocks finished mixed at the end of a choppy session Thursday as markets digested varying labor market data and looked ahead to next week's Federal Reserve decision.

Strong gains by Facebook parent Meta and tech giant Salesforce helped lift the Nasdaq into positive territory, while the Dow finished slightly lower.

Earlier, bourses in London, Paris and Frankfurt all pushed higher.

A weekly report of initial US jobless claims showed a drop of 27,000. That upbeat figure came on the heels of data on Wednesday from private payroll firm ADP that showed a surprise decline in hiring last month.

A separate report Thursday by the executive placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed a jump in job cuts in November, lifting the 2025 total to the highest level since 2020.

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