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Stocks cut much of their earlier losses Friday as investors looked past hotter-than-expected labor data to the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials pulled itself into positive territory 34.87 points to 34,429.88.
The S&P 500 subtracted 4.87 points to 4,071.70.
The NASDAQ dropped 20.95 points to 11,461.50.
All three indexes set weekly gains, with the NASDAQ posting the largest increase at nearly 2.1%. The S&P 500 added 1.1%, and the Dow ticked up by 0.2%. Friday’s close marked the first time the three major indexes notched back-to-back weekly gains since October.
Slowing order growth was one factor prompting RBC Capital Markets to downgrade DoorDash.
The firm slashed its rating to sector perform from outperform, while lowering the stock’s price target to $60 from $70. The new target price represents roughly 5% upside.
Barclays anticipates a challenging near-term for Blackstone after the investment firm limited withdrawals from its large retail real estate fund.
The bank downgraded shares of Blackstone to equal weight from overweight. It also cut the stock’s price target to $90 from $98, now implying an upside of nearly 6%.
Blackstone shares traded down 2.5% in Friday trading.
Non-farm payrolls increased 263,000 in November, a bigger gain than the 200,000-job increase expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%.
This is the final monthly employment report before the Fed’s two-day meeting Dec. 13-14, in which the central bank is expected to raise its fed funds target rate by a half percentage point. A 50-basis-point increase would mark a slowing from the prior 75-basis-point rate hikes set by the central bank.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 3.56% from Thursday’s 3.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices increased 31 cents to $81.53 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subtracted $6.10 to $1,809.30 U.S. an ounce.
