Wall Street stocks finished a low-key session little changed on Thursday as US Treasury bond yields retreated and a report pointed to higher holiday retail sales.

Holiday consumer data showed a 3.8 percent increase in US retail spending from November 1 to December 24, according to a Mastercard SpendingPulse review of a key period for retailers.

"Solid spending during this holiday season underscores the strength we observed from the consumer all year," said Michelle Meyer, chief economist for the Mastercard Economics Institute.

Equities veered in and out of positive territory throughout the post-Christmas trading round when several overseas bourses were closed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.1 percent at 43,325.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1 percent to 6,037, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 0.1 percent to 20,020.

Large technology companies that have led the market in much of 2024 mostly took a breather. These included Netflix, Tesla and Amazon, all of which declined.

Among individual companies, United States Steel fell 3 percent after would-be acquirer Nippon Steel of Japan pushed back the time-frame of its targeted acquisition to the first quarter of 2025 from the fourth quarter of 2024.

The move came after a US government panel could not reach consensus on whether the transaction harmed US national security, pushing the decision to President Joe Biden, who has criticised the takeover. (AFP)