Stocks closed out mixed on Thursday. The Dow ended slightly in the red zone. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted some points. Brands recovered from early session low levels in the wake of better-than-expected jobs data. Payroll firm Automatic Data Processing reported that companies added 325,000 new jobs in December. Citing growth in small and medium sized businesses, the latest reading exceeded a 178,000 forecast. On another note, the Institute for Supply Management said that its services-sector index for December registered a reading of 52.6. Up just slightly from 52 in November, economists had expected an increase to 53. Elsewhere, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims decreased by 15,000 to 372,000 last week. Looking ahead, the government will issue official December employment numbers tomorrow.
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