Dow slips as Wall Street awaits July jobs report

Coinbase surged on Thursday, attracting the attention of top markets pros. Coinbase shares gained 10% to close at $88.90, lifted by news that BlackRock entered a partnership with the crypto exchange. Chatter on Reddit and possible short covering may have helped buoy shares to even greater heights, as COIN touched $116.30 during the trading day.

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-Darla Mercado, Joshua Natoli

Stocks wavered Thursday and closed mixed ahead of the July jobs report, due Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 85.68 points, or 0.26%, to 32,726.82. The S&P 500 fell 0.08% to close at 4,151.94 after hitting its highest level since June on Wednesday. The Nasdaq Composite increased 0.41% to 12,720.58, the highest close since early May.

—Carmen Reinicke

Treasury yields were lower on the day, as investors await Friday's jobs report.

The 10-year yield hit a low of 2.52% this week, and then swiftly went to a high near 2.82%. It was trading at 2.67%, in the middle of that range Thursday afternoon. Yields move opposite price.

The yield fell sharply earlier in the week as investors worried about recession and tensions with China as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. But the yield snapped back on hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

"It was one of the biggest intraday 10-year yield reversals we've seen in a decade," said Greg Faranello, head of U.S. rates at AmeriVet.

He said the Bank of England soured the mood Thursday. The U.K.'s central bank raised rates by a half percentage point and said it expected a prolonged recession..

Now, the market focus is on Friday's employment report, expected to show 258,000 non farm payrolls were added in July, according to Dow Jones. "These numbers need to keep coming in strong or the recession narrative will grow in the U.S.," said Faranello.

—Patti Domm

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Going into the final hour of trading, U.S. stocks are mixed and fluctuating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 82 points or 0.25%, while the S&P 500 was barely down 0.06%. The Nasdaq Composite held onto gains, up 0.32%.

—Carmen Reinicke

Shares of Beyond Meat fell more than 7% during intraday trading Thursday before the company's scheduled earnings release, due after the bell.

The stock has struggled to gain this year and were most recently weighed down after McDonald's said it had completed its U.S. test of a plant-based burger using Beyond Meat, and that the trial had lackluster results.

Beyond Meat has shed more than 44% year to date through Thursday's close.

—Carmen Reinicke

Gas prices have fallen every day for the last 50 days, bringing the national average for a gallon to $4.14, according to AAA.

That's about 67 cents lower than a month ago and 90 cents lower than the June peak. Still, prices are about $1 more than they were a year ago.

—Carmen Reinicke

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester reiterated her call Thursday for more interest rate hikes as the central bank looks to bring down inflation.

At an afternoon appearance in Pittsburgh, Mester said she sees the Fed's benchmark borrowing rate increasing this year to more than 4%, compared to its current target range of 2.25%-2.5%. That's consistent with previous estimates she's made, and she again said she would need convincing evidence that inflation is moderating before changing her stance.

Though she also said "we're not in recession right now," she noted that risks are rising.

Mester's comments are part of broadly hawkish positions staked out this week from Fed officials who see continued rate increases as a necessary for a fragile economy dealing with inflation at 40-year highs.

Traders are pricing in a 0.5 percentage point increase at the September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. They also expect the Fed to start cutting rates in the