US stocks closed little changed on Thursday, as investors weighed a report on the labour market and other economic data, while equities drew support from elevated hopes for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut next week.

A Labour Department report showed initial jobless claims dropped to their lowest level in more than three years, although analysts suggested the drop could have been in part due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

A separate report from the Chicago Fed estimated the unemployment rate held near 4.4 percent in November. Markets are pricing in an 87 percent chance the central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points this month, up from a 68.6 percent chance priced in a month ago, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

"Everybody's waiting around to see what the Fed thinks with any of this data that they've seen come in because the last comments from (Fed Chair Jerome) Powell were a little bit on the hawkish side, but cuts are fully expected," said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"The short of it is the gold standard is payrolls, and we just don't have an updated figure there, so that's going to really move the needle one way or the other on any future rate policy paths."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31 points, or 0.1 percent, to 47,850, the S&P 500 gained 7 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,857.12 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 51 points, or 0.2 percent, to 23,505.

A delayed report from the Commerce Department showed factory orders rose 0.2 percent, short of the 0.5 percent estimate, after a downwardly revised 1.3 percent increase in August as tariffs hemmed in manufacturers.

Dow component Salesforce climbed 3.7 percent after the company raised its fiscal 2026 revenue and adjusted profit forecasts, anticipating growth in its artificial intelligence agent platform due to strong enterprise demand.

Also on the plus side, Meta Platforms rose 3.4 percent as one of the biggest boosts to the S&P after a Bloomberg report said the Facebook parent planned cuts of up to 30 percent of its Metaverse budget.

Meanwhile, Amazon dipped as one of the biggest drags to the benchmark S&P index after the e-commerce company said it was in discussions with the US Postal Service about their future relationship and is considering its options before its contract expires next year. (Reuters)