Stocks end mixed as stimulus deal concerns remain Equity futures were weaker in early morning trade as the lack of a new stimulus agreement out of Washington, the lack of a breakthrough on Brexit, the ongoing surge in virus cases, and a sizable jump in new jobless claims all added to safe-haven demand. The averages had a mixed finish, with the Dow closing lower, the Nasdaq closing higher and the S&P seeing little change. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims jumped 137,000 to 853,000 in the week ended December 5. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in November on both the headline and core, with the former pointing to a little hotter than expected inflation. In stimulus news, Politico reported that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's staff told other congressional leaders yesterday that the bipartisan coronavirus negotiators will be unlikely to satisfy Senate Republicans. In the EU, the ECB announced that its key interest rates will remain unchanged. The ECB also stated earlier that "in view of the economic fallout from the resurgence of the pandemic, today the Governing Council recalibrated its monetary policy instruments." Among the moves, the Governing Council decided to increase the envelope of the pandemic emergency purchase programme, or PEPP, by EUR 500B to a total of EUR 1.85B and also extended the horizon for net purchases under the PEPP to at least the end of March 2022. TOP NEWS: Shares of Starbucks ($SBUX) finished 5% higher following yesterday's investor day presentation, during which the coffee giant reiterated its fiscal 2021 adjusted earnings per share guidance and guided for fiscal 2022 adjusted EPS growth of "at least" 20%. Starbucks added that it expects adjusted earnings growth of 10%-12% for fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024, and anticipates comparable store sales growth of 2%-4% annually starting in fiscal 2023. Meanwhile, Disney's ($DIS) own investor day presentation begins after today's market close. The New York Times reported yesterday that the media giant intends to discuss a wide range of content coming to its Disney+ streaming service, including an expansion of the "Star Wars" universe, a live action "Pinocchio" film starring Tom Hanks, and a "Peter Pan & Wendy" adaptation. Of note, CNBC reported that Disney, as well as NBCUniversal ($CMCSA), is unlikely to follow WarnerMedia's ($T) 2021 media plan to release its entire 2021 movie slate on its HBO Max streaming service at the same time the movies hit theaters. On the earnings front, Adobe ($ADBE) shares slipped 1.4% despite the company reporting better than expected fourth quarter earnings and revenue. The company also provided upbeat guidance for the first quarter and fiscal 2021 and announced a new stock buyback authorization of up to $15B. Tesla ($TSLA) was in focus after New Street analyst Pierre Ferragu downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy, saying the car maker still faces a "decade of hyper-growth" but near-term upside is now factored into the shares. The analyst added that Tesla's long-term valuation remains attractive. Additionally, shares of Twitter ($TWTR) rose 8.4% after the company confirmed a report that it is teaming up with Snap ($SNAP) to bring tweets into Snapchat with a native integration. Snap shares finished 8.1% higher following the news. In IPO news, Airbnb ($ABNB) opened at $146 in its initial public offering, after its IPO priced at $68 per share. The stock closed 112.8% higher at $144.71. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was TG Therapeutics ($TGTX), which surged almost 41% after its ULTIMATE I and II Phase 3 studies met their primary endpoint. Among the notable losers was Qiwi ($QIWI), which declined 20.6% after JPMorgan analyst Alexei Gogolev downgraded the stock to Underweight from Neutral. Reviewing Thursday's economic data:Initial jobless claims for the week ending December 5 increased by 137,000 to 853,000 (Briefing.com consensus 720,000) while continuing claims for the week ending November 28 increased by 230,000 to 5.757 million. This was the highest level of initial jobless claims since the week of September 18.The latest initial claims data is a headwind on the surface, but may ultimately be construed as a tailwind beneath the surface because it was terrible. The connection for the market is that, because it was terrible, it might compel Congress to stop all the bickering and reach an agreement on stimulus before the December recess.Total CPI and core CPI both increased 0.2% m/m in November. The former was above the 0.1% Briefing.com consensus while the latter was in line. The key takeaway from the report is that there aren't any inflation alarm bells (or rate-hike bells) ringing in this report for the Fed seeing that the yr/yr increases for total CPI and core CPI held steady at 1.2% and 1.6%, respectively.The Treasury Budget showed a $145.3 bln deficit in November, marking the 66th time over the last 67 fiscal years that November -- which has no major tax due dates -- has seen a deficit. The budget data is not seasonally adjusted, so the November deficit cannot be compared to the October deficit of $284.1 bln.The key takeaway from the report is the recognition that spending was down by a sizable amount yr/yr, which helped offset the budget impact of a small yr/yr decline in receipts.Looking ahead, investors will receive the Producer Price Index for November and the preliminary University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for December on Friday.Nasdaq Composite +38.3% YTDRussell 2000 +15.2% YTDS&P 500 +13.5% YTDDow Jones Industrial Average +5.1% YTDMarket SnapshotDow29999.20-69.55(-0.23%)Nasdaq12405.72+66.85(0.54%)SP 5003668.11-4.72(-0.13%)10-yr Note +4/320.903NYSEAdv 1646 Dec 1434 Vol 965.8 mlnNasdaqAdv 2232 Dec 1389 Vol 4.4 blnIndustry WatchStrong: Energy, Information Technology, FinancialsWeak: Industrials, Utilities, MaterialsMoving the Market-- Small-caps, energy stocks, and Airbnb (ABNB) win the day-- Rest of market was mixed-- Weekly initial claims were relatively disappointing Disclosure: I may trade in the ticker symbols mentioned, both long or short. 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