Wall Street Holds Steadier Thursday

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are holding relatively steady on Thursday following some mixed data on the economy, keeping them on track for their worst week since April.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in early trading following two straight drops. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 102 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher.

Treasury yields were sagging in the bond market following the mixed reports on the U.S. job market. One suggested U.S. companies slowed their hiring last week, falling well short of economists' forecasts for an acceleration. Another report, though, said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than expected. That's an indication the number of layoffs remains low.

Stocks have struggled this week after another dud of a report on U.S. manufacturing reignited worries about the slowing U.S. economy and how much it would hurt corporate profits. Another report on the health of businesses in U.S. services industries is due later in the morning, but the week's highlight will arrive Friday.

That's when the U.S. government will release its latest monthly update on job growth across the U.S. economy, and economists are expecting an acceleration of hiring. The job market's performance could dictate how large of a cut to interest rates the Federal Reserve will deliver at its next meeting later this month.

After keeping its main interest rate at a two-decade high in order to suffocate high inflation, the Federal Reserve has hinted that it's set to begin cutting interest rates in order to protect the job market and keep the overall economy from sliding into a recession. The question on Wall Street is if it ends up being too late.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.73% from 3.76% late Wednesday. It's down from 4.70% in April, which is a significant move for the bond market.

Perhaps more importantly for investors, the 10-year yield is also once again a tick higher than the two-year Treasury yield, which tends to more closely track expectations for Fed action. It's a turnaround from from the last two years, when shorter-term yields were higher than longer-term yields. It's an unusual occurrence called an "inverted yield curve" because it's the opposite of what's usually the case, and many investors see it as an indication of a coming recession.

Often, an inverted yield curve flips back into normal ahead of a recession as traders cement their expectations for coming cuts to interest rates by the Fed.

On Wall Street, Verizon's stock was virtually unchanged after announcing that it's buying Frontier Communications in a $20 billion deal to strengthen its fiber network. Frontier Communications, which soared nearly 38% the day before, gave back 8.4%.

Topgolf Callaway rose 3.5% after the golf equipment company said it intended to spin off its driving range entertainment business, Topgolf, into a separate company.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Asia and Europe.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1% after strong data on growth in wages there raised expectations for another hike to in interest rates.