U.S. stocks were lower on Thursday as investors awaited Friday's big jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 248.33 points, or 0.55%, to close at 44,765.71. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.18% to end at 19,700.26. The S&P 500 dropped 0.19%, settling at 6,075.11.

The three major averages saw solid gains in the previous session, posting record closes.

"The problem you have is that valuations are stretched across the board," said Keeley Teton portfolio manager Brian Leonard in an interview with CNBC. "You're sitting at records, but there's not a lot of enthusiasm or euphoria. Historically, when the records happened, the valuations were more reasonable."

Traders on Thursday looked ahead to key U.S. employment data on Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast the U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in November.

This labor report could inform the Federal Reserve's rate decision at its policy meeting later this month. On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the U.S. economy is strong enough for the central bank to move carefully on rate cuts.

"The labor market is better, and the downside risks appear to be less in the labor market," he said. "Growth is definitely stronger than we thought, and inflation is coming [out] a little higher. So, the good news is that we can afford to be a little more cautious as we try to find neutral."

Bitcoin traded marginally lower, falling below $100,000 after breaking above it for the first time late Wednesday. That overnight move briefly led crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy and Coinbase higher. However, these names had also given up those advances, with MicroStrategy dropping 4.8% and Coinbase shedding 3.1%.

Stocks pull back from record highs

All the three major averages finished marginally lower on Thursday.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 248.33 points, or 0.55%, to settle at 44,765.71. On top of that, the broad market S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each fell about 0.2%, closing at 6,075.11 and 19,700.26, respectively.

— Sean Conlon

The role of bonds in a traditional 60/40 portfolio may change going forward, Strategas says

The 60/40 portfolio — 60% stocks, 40% bonds — is a classic investment strategy. But Strategas believes that investors will have to adjust this traditional allocation going forward as the correlation between the two asset classes continues to rise.

"Reprieve on the inflation front is a welcome sign for risk assets but from an asset allocation perspective it's difficult to get overly excited given the elevated correlation present in the two asset classes," the firm wrote in a Thursday note. "What will the new hedge for stocks be moving forward if bonds stay positively correlated?"

— Lisa Kailai Han

Target has a hit on its hands: Taylor Swift's book is fastest selling of the year

Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour Book" sold 814,000 units in the week ended Nov. 30, according to data tracker Circana. The performance was enough to make it the fastest selling new book release of the year, and the second highest adult non-fiction release in BookScan history behind Barack Obama's "A Promised Land." However, there's a noteworthy difference: Swift's book was only available at Target stores, while Obama's book, which sold 816,300 units in its first week, was available widely.

It remains to be seen whether this will give Target a much-needed boost during the busy holiday season. Target shares have fallen more than 8% year to date, and the stock was down about 1% in trading Thursday.

—Christina Cheddar Berk

No near-term end in sight for U.S. exceptionalism, Barclays says

Barclays sees no end in sight for U.S. exceptionalism, at least in the near term.

In a Wednesday note, the firm pointed to President-elect Donald Trump's November victory as the reason U.S. equities have outperformed their European counterparts last month.

"MAGA policy expectations, coupled with Goldilocks data, have revived animal spirits for US equities. In contrast, Europe remains on the back foot amid stagnant growth, tariff threats and political crisis in France," Barclays wrote. "It is hard to see an end to US exceptionalism any time soon, which we think remains the playbook into 2025."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Morgan Stanley is bullish India heading into 2025

India remains the "market to beat" heading into 2025, according to Morgan Stanley.

In a Thursday note, the bank wrote it expects India to be one of the best performing emerging markets in the new year.

"With strong earnings, macro stability and domestic flows, it is hard to argue against India's investment case," strategist Ridham Desai wrote. "That said, potential global growth risks plus a bunching up of IPOs and near-term growth concerns present challenges."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stock prices set to move higher over the next year, says Wells Fargo

A massive rally may be in store for stocks in the months ahead, according to Wells Fargo.

"Do we look for higher stock prices in the coming 12 months? The short answer is yes," strategist Scott Wren said in a Wednesday note to clients. "As far as the SPX goes, we believe the index will finish 2025 in the 6500 to 6700 range, a noticeable advance from current levels."

Wren also said he believes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice by the end of next year.

— Sean Conlon

GameStop shares jump 10% after Roaring Kitty's post

Shares of GameStop jumped 10% to a session high after meme stock personality "Roaring Kitty" posted a cryptic image of a computer on X. The post garnered nearly 20,000 likes in 20 minutes.

Roaring Kitty, whose legal name is Keith Gill, resurfaced online earlier this year, touting personal investments in his favorite video game retailer. Gill initially started sharing his GameStop position in September 2019, encouraging a band of retail traders to squeeze out short-selling hedge funds.

— Yun Li

Atlanta Fed's fourth-quarter growth forecast ticks up to 3.3%

The fourth quarter growth of the U.S. economy continues to look stronger than most economists expected.

The latest update of the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow forecast shows a fourth-quarter growth rate of 3.3%. That's slight increase from 3.2% in Monday's update.

In contrast, major economists surveyed as part of Blue Chip Economic Indicators have been projecting a growth rate of around 2% for the quarter.

— Jesse Pound

South Korea ETF down more than 3% for the week

The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF declined 1.1% Thursday, pulling it down 3.2% week to date.

South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol's sudden martial law declaration on Tuesday shocked the country and international observers. The South Korean won and related stocks sharply fell in the immediate aftermath of the declaration, but pared losses once lawmakers voted to lift the martial law decree within hours of Yoon's announcement.

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday reiterated its AA sovereign credit rating on South Korea, noting that the martial law was quickly ended and the economy "is fundamentally sound."

Year to date, the South Korea ETF is down more than 15%.

— Hakyung Kim

Global tech earnings growth in 2025 will drive further equity gains, UBS says

UBS is staying bullish on domestic equities. The firm cited the fundamentally strong state of the U.S. economy and forecasted further market gains fueled by rate cuts and artificial intelligence.

"With big tech's ongoing commitment to AI spending, and improving AI adoption and monetization trends, we forecast earnings growth of 22% for the global tech sector in 2024 and 18% in 2025," said Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer Americas for UBS Global Wealth Management, in a Thursday note to clients. "So, without taking any single-name views, we believe investors should position for further equity gains."

Marcelli said she favors technology, utilities and financials sectors within U.S. stocks and sees value in having a diversified exposure to Asia, excluding Japan.

— Pia Singh

S&P's year-to-date performance is second-highest of 21st century so far, according to Deutsche Bank

The S&P 500 ended Wednesday 0.61% higher to close at yet another new record. This upside has added on to the benchmark's strong year-to-date performance, putting it on pace to potentially notch its best-performing year of the 21st century if stocks can rise again in December.

"It now means the S&P 500 is up +27.6% so far in 2024, which is only a couple of points behind its 2013 gain (+29.6%) that still stands as the strongest annual advance of the 21st century so far," Deutsche Bank wrote in a Thursday note.

— Lisa Kailai Han

American Airlines, American Eagle among the stocks making moves midday

Check out the stocks making big moves in midday trading:

American Airlines – Shares rose nearly 16% after the airline announced it's going to drop Barclays as a credit card partner, making Citi its sole partner. The deal with Citi is expected to take effect in January 2026.

American Eagle Outfitters – The stock fell 14% after the apparel retailer missed revenue expectations for the third quarter and provided weak holiday guidance. The company anticipates that comparable sales will rise 1% and total sales will decline 4%. Analysts were expecting comparable sales growth of 2.2%, according to StreetAccount.

Read here for the full list.

— Sean Conlon

Tariff costs and benefits are 'overstated,' Bank of America says

Fear over President-elect Donald Trump's proposed economic tariffs have weighed markets down in recent days. But in a Thursday note, Bank of American called these fears overblown — alongside any potential benefits.

"Although we expect goods tariffs to roughly double on average by early/mid 2026, we think the resulting economic drag will only be modest. In fact, our 2025-26 growth forecasts are above the Bloomberg consensus. But we also think the benefits of tariffs are overstated," economist Aditya Bhave wrote.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Bullishness soared among individual investors in latest week, AAII survey shows

Bullishness about the outlook for stocks over the next six months leaped to 48.3% in the week ended Wednesday from 37.1% last week and an historical average of 37.5%, the American Association of Individual Investors said.

Bearish views tumbled to 30.7% of respondents from 38.6% last week and an average of 31% since the survey began. Individual investors who are neutral about the six-month outlook fell to 21% from 24.3%, well below an historical average of 31.5%.

The survey spells good news for contrarian investors who try to bet against the market. They interpret rising bullishness as meaning more investors have finished buying and there's less cash on the sidelines available to go into stocks.

Still, bullishness was last higher and bearishness last lower a month ago, the week after the presidential election and, while stocks dipped a touch in mid-November, they've recently resumed marching to continued all-time highs.

— Scott Schnipper

31 stocks in the S&P 500 hit new 52-week highs

During Thursday's trading session, 31 stocks in the S&P 500 reached new 52-week lows.

Names that hit this milestone included:

• Meta Platforms trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in May, 2012
• Netflix trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in May, 2002
• Royal Caribbean trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Apr, 1993
• Tesla trading at levels not seen since Apr, 2022
• Walmart Stores trading at all-time high levels back to when it first began trading on the NYSE in Aug, 1972
• Apple Inc. trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Dec, 1980
• Cisco trading at levels not seen since Jan, 2022
• GoDaddy trading at all-time high levels back to its IPO in Apr, 2015
• Palantir Technologies trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in Sept, 2020

On the other hand, just four stocks in the index traded at new 52-week lows: Mondelez, Microchip Technology, Celanese and LyondellBasell.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Christopher Hayes

Oil prices rise as OPEC+ delays production increase

Oil prices rose slightly Thursday after OPEC+ members agreed to delay production increases.

U.S. crude oil futures gained 43 cents, or 0.63%, to $68.97 per barrel by 9:33 a.m. ET. Brent crude futures rose 41 cents, or 0.57%, to $72.72 per barrel.

Eight OPEC+ members led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will keep voluntary production cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day in place until the end of March 2025.

The cuts will then be gradually phased out on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026 to "support market stability," according to a statement from the countries. 

OPEC+ wants to bring supply back to the market is under pressure from soft demand in China and strong production in the U.S., which are driving prices lower.,

— Spencer Kimball

Fiserv falls 6% after Trump picks CEO to head Social Security Administration

Fintech stock Fiserv tumbled 6% on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump announced CEO Frank Bisignano as his pick to head the Social Security Administration.

"Frank is a business leader, with a tremendous track record of transforming large corporations," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "He will be responsible to deliver on the Agency's commitment to the American People for generations to come!"

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stocks open little changed

Stocks opened little changed on Thursday morning.

Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were trading around the flatline shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stocks on the move before the bell

These stocks are making the biggest moves before the bell:

• American Eagle Outfitters — Shares of the apparel retailer sank nearly 14% on disappointing holiday guidance.
• Five Below — The stock jumped 14% after the discount retailer posted an earnings and revenue beat for the third quarter.
• Crypto stocks — Stocks tied to cryptocurrencies rallied as bitcoin topped $100,000 for the first time. MicroStrategy popped nearly 8%, while Robinhood Markets gained 6%. Mara Holdings and Riot Platforms added 5% and 6%, respectively.

Read the full list here.

— Samantha Subin

Trade deficit fell more than forecast in October

The U.S. trade imbalance was lower than expected in October, according to a Census Bureau report Thursday.

The deficit in goods and services totaled $73.8 billion for the month, down $10 billion from September and less than the $74.8 billion Dow Jones consensus estimate. Much of the decrease came as the shortfall with the European Union fell by $6.7 billion.

For the year, the trade deficit is up 12.3% compared to the same period in 2023.

—Jeff Cox

Weekly jobless claims higher than forecast

Initial filings for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

First-time claims for the week ending Nov. 30 totaled 224,000, up 9,000 from the previous period and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 215,000.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, edged lower after being mostly on the rise for the past two months. The new total is 1.87 million, a decrease of 25,000 and lower than the FactSet forecast for 1.91 million.

—Jeff Cox

Bitcoin could eventually replace gold, Bernstein says

Bitcoin could eventually replace the role of gold, according to Bernstein.

In a Thursday note, Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote that bitcoin could eventually gold as the "new-age premier 'store of value' asset."

On Wednesday night, the price of bitcoin surged past the $100,000 level for the first time in history. Bernstein predicts that bitcoin could rise to $200,000 by late 2025.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.

— Hakyung Kim, Lisa Kailai Han

Oppenheimer reiterates outperform rating on Broadcom

Oppenheimer sees chipmaker Broadcom posting a beat on its fiscal fourth quarter earnings report on Nov. 12.

The firm reiterated its outperform rating and $200 price target on shares ahead of the company's quarterly earnings release.

Analyst Rick Schafer believes Broadcom's semiconductor segment will have grown 10% from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, he estimates the software business will have grown 3% quarter-over-quarter.

Year to date, Broadcom shares have surged nearly 53%.

— Hakyung Kim

Crypto stocks jump as bitcoin tops $100,000

Crypto-related stocks jumped in premarket trading Thursday, as bitcoin traded above $100,000 for the first time.

MicroStrategy advanced more than 6%, while Robinhood and Riot Platforms advanced more than 4% each. Mara Holdings was up 5.5%, and Coinbase gained 3%.

— Fred Imbert

Europe stocks open mixed

European stock markets opened mixed on Thursday as investors assessed political uncertainty in France.

France's CAC 40 was up 0.13% at 8:11 a.m. in London, while Germany's DAX gained 0.06%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.05%.

— Jenni Reid

Bitcoin tops $100,000 for the first time ever

The price of bitcoin soared past the long-awaited $100,000 benchmark for the first time ever late Wednesday evening.

The flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by more than 7% at $102,879.60, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose as high as $103,844.05.

The move came hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The same day, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said bitcoin was "just like gold only it's virtual, it's digital," speaking at the DealBook conference.

For more on bitcoin's historic milestone read our full story here.

— Tanaya Macheel

American Eagle plummets after revenue miss

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters fell 13% in extended trading Wednesday on the heels of the retailer's third-quarter revenue missing Wall Street's expectations.

The company saw its revenue come in at $1.29 billion, while analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting revenue of $1.30 billion. However, it did see earnings come in above expectations, posting adjusted earnings of 48 cents per share compared to the consensus estimate of 46 cents per share.

On top of that, American Eagle provided a weak holiday forecast and cut its full-year outlook. It now expects comparable sales to grow by 3% for the full year, which is below both its prior guidance of 4% growth and the consensus estimate of 4.1%, according to FactSet. Revenue growth for the full year is also expected to come in at 1%, below its prior guidance of 2% to 3%.

While the stock has gained more than 7% in the past month, it's been in the red this year, posting year-to-date losses of about 3%.

— Gabrielle Fonrouge, Sean Conlon

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

Check out the stocks making headlines in extended trading:

Five Below – The discount retailer advanced about 11% after posting third-quarter revenue of $844 million, well above the $799 million analysts polled by LSEG had expected. Adjusted earnings also topped the Street's expectations. The company also guided for a fourth-quarter revenue range that encompassed the average consensus estimate.

Synopsys – The stock fell more than 6% after the company's fiscal first-quarter forecast came in lower than analysts were expecting. Synopsys expects earnings to come in between $2.77 and $2.82 per share, well below the $3.53 per share that analysts had penciled in, per LSEG. The company also guided for first-quarter revenues that were lower than consensus, forecasting between $1.435 billion and $1.465 billion in the quarter. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were looking for $1.631 billion.

Read here for the full list.

— Sean Conlon

Stock futures open little changed

U.S. stock futures hovered just below the flatline Wednesday night.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 16 points, or 0.04%. Additionally, S&P 500 futures inched lower by 0.07%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.1%.

— Sean Conlon