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Dow edges down from record after solid US jobs report

The jobless rate fell three-tenths to 4.6 percent in November, with a solid 178,000 net new positions created

Wall Street stocks finished little changed Friday, with the Dow retreating slightly from a record, after US unemployment hit a nine-year low.

The jobless rate fell three-tenths to 4.6 percent in November, with a solid 178,000 net new positions created, the Department of Labor reported. Analysts said the figures were likely strong enough to keep the Federal Reserve on track to hike interest rates later this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 percent to 19,170.42.

The broad-based S&P 500 ended up a hair at 2,191.95, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.1 percent to 5,255.65.

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Analysts said profit-taking drove declines in some sectors that have soared since the November 8 US elections. Banks fell, with Goldman Sachs losing 1.4 percent and Citigroup 2.2 percent.

Media stocks were generally lower, with Comcast losing 1.6 percent and Twenty-First Century Fox 2.8 percent. Disney and CBS also fell.

Starbucks dropped 2.2 percent after it announced Thursday that Howard Schultz was stepping down as chief executive early next year, to be replaced by president and chief operating officer Kevin Johnson. Schultz will stay on as executive chairman and chairman of the board and will build up the company's superpremium coffee shop business.

Gap fell 3.0 percent after reporting that November comparable sales fell 1 percent. The apparel chain said trends remained challenging, but sales improved in the latter part of the month as the holiday shopping season kicked off.

Gunmaker Smith & Wesson plunged 12.0 percent after it projected lower-than-expected profits in the fourth quarter. Analysts said the election of gun-rights supporter Donald Trump as US president would lessen the urgency for purchases.