US STOCKS-Wall Street mostly flat as Fed watchers digest jobs data

By Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes were mostly flat on Thursday, as investors reviewed fresh labor-market signals and firmed up their expectations for a possible Federal Reserve rate cut next week.

With the November payrolls report scheduled after the Fed's December meeting, traders have leaned on secondary indicators that paint a muddled picture of the job market.

A Labor Department report showed new jobless claims dropping to their lowest level in more than three years, but the data captured last Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, a period when claims often whipsaw.

At the same time, an estimate from the Chicago Fed suggested the unemployment rate held near 4.4% in November, underscoring the mixed signals confronting policymakers.

Investors were also treading carefully ahead of Friday's September Personal Consumption Expenditures report, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, which would be the first PCE readout since the recent U.S. government shutdown.

Fed funds futures point to a nearly 90% chance the central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points this month, up from around 60% last month, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

"Everybody's waiting not just for the Fed to cut, but the direction they say after that. A lot of people are expecting a cut and be done until when Trump appoints a new chairman," said Max Wasserman, senior portfolio manager at Miramar Capital.

"If Chair Jerome Powell comes out and says he sees further cutting, you have people still going for the risk on trade because of liquidity."

At 11:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 69.11 points, or 0.14%, to 47,813.79, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 4.68 points, or 0.07%, to 6,845.04 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 3.61 points, or 0.01%, to 23,450.48.

Meta META.O rose 4% after a report said the tech giant planned to cuts of up to 30% of its Metaverse budget.

Amazon.com AMZN.O said it was in discussions with the U.S. Postal Service about their future relationship and is considering its options before its contract expires next year. The e-commerce giant's shares were down 2.1%.

The consumer staples sector .SPLRCS was pressured by a 6.2% fall in Kroger KR.N. The supermarket chain narrowed its annual sales forecast and missed quarterly sales estimates.

Snowflake fell 11.3% after the cloud data analytics company's fourth-quarter product revenue forecast was below lofty investor expectations for stronger growth.

Hormel Foods HRL.N climbed 2% after the Skippy peanut butter maker forecast annual profit above estimates, while Dollar General rose 10.5% after the discount retailer raised its annual profit forecast.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.02-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.19-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and two new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 76 new highs and 36 new lows.