Stocks rose Thursday morning, as market participants returned to Wall Street following two straight sessions of declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at above a flatline, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite declined by about 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.34% or -16.13 points to 4,688.68

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.03% or +10.15 points to 37,440.34

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): -0.56% or -81.91 points to 14,510.30

In the spotlight, U.S. private payrolls rose by 164,000 in December, payrolls processing firm ADP reported on Thursday, signaling a still strong labor market as additions outpaced November's downwardly revised print of 101,000.

Beneath the headline, the leisure and hospitality sector added 59,000 positions and saw annual wage growth of 6.4% for the month, as hotels, restaurants, bars and similar establishments saw more job creation as the sector continues to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We're returning to a labor market that's very much aligned with pre-pandemic hiring," said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, in a statement. "While wages didn't drive the recent bout of inflation, now that pay growth has retreated, any risk of a wage-price spiral has all but disappeared."

Separately, initial unemployment claims totaled a less-than-expected 202,000 for the week ended Dec. 30, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, marking a decline of 18,000 from the previous period. Continuing jobless claims also fel by 31,000 to total 1.855 million.

Thursday's labor market data comes ahead of the Labor Department's "official" monthly jobs report for December due out Friday morning, which is expected to show 170,000 additions with an unemployment rate of 3.8%. Those estimates represent a decline from November's print of 199,000 private payroll additions with an unemployment rate of 3.7%.

Also in the news, Adobe Analytics reported Thursday that online spending rose 4.9% to a record $222.1 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, with higher sales not due to higher prices but stronger demand. Adobe highlighted that consumers were drawn to deeper discounts from retailers during the holiday season and used buy now, pay later services to cover much of the spending.

In other economic news, the S&P Global services sector purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at a reading of 51.4 in December on Thursday, slightly topping both November's print of 50.8 and expectations.

"Some New Year cheer is provided by the PMI signalling an acceleration of growth in the vast services economy, which reported its largest rise in output for five months in December," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, in a statement. "The improvement overshadows a downturn recorded in manufacturing to indicate that the overall pace of US economic growth likely accelerated slightly at the end of the year."

On the earnings front, shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA  ) dropped more than 10% Thursday morning after the retail pharmacy giant cut its quarterly dividend following its fiscal first-quarter earnings beat. The company reduced its dividend to $0.25 per share from $0.48 per share in effort to support its "long-term balance sheet and cash position," CEO Tim Wentworth said in a statement.

"We have been evaluating our options across our strategies and operations, including those related to our capital allocation," Wentworth said. "This action reinforces our goal of increasing cash flow, while freeing up capital to invest in sustainable growth initiatives in our pharmacy and healthcare businesses, which we believe will ultimately improve shareholder value."

In single-stock news, Mobileye (MBLY  ) shares dropped 25% on Thursday after the self-driving technology company warned of a decrease in customer orders in the first quarter of 2024, expecting revenue to fall by 50% year-over-year for the period. Bank of America also downgraded the Intel (INTC  ) backed stock to a rating of Underperform on Thursday, with analyst John Murphy writing in a note that the firm has "been somewhat wary of the growth and implied valuation of the stock ... not growth (and profits) are even more uncertain."

Ford (F  ) reported U.S. sales of nearly 2 million vehicles in 2023, representing a year-over-year increase of 7.1% on Thursday. The company came in third overall in U.S. sales, behind Toyota Motors (TM  ) and General Motors (GM  ). Separately, the automaker is increasing the price of some of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup trucks; its Pro model will now cost at least $54,995, up from $49,995, while its Platinum Black starting price will be $97,995, up from $92,995.

Eli Lilly (LLY  ) launched a new direct-to-consumer website for its weight-loss drug Zepbound on Thursday called LillyDirect. The platform will also connect patients with obesity, diabetes and migraine with telehealth companies as well as treatments such as insulin for home delivery.

Qualcomm (QCOM  ) announced a new chip, called Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, designed for mixed reality devices developed by Samsung and Google (GOOGL  ) on Thursday, set to compete with Apple's (AAPL  ) M2 processor that powers its Vision Pro headset.

"Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 unlocks 4.3K resolution which will take XR productivity and entertainment to the next level by bringing spectacularly clear visuals to use cases such as room-scale screens, life-size overlays and virtual desktops," said Hugo Swart, vice president and general managers of extended reality at Qualcomm, said in a statement.

Peloton Interactive (PTON  ) announced a new partnership with TikTok on Thursday that will create a new fitness hub on the short-video sharing platform under the name "#TikTokFitness Powered by Peloton." The collaboration will include fitness videos, live classes, as well as other content from Peloton instructors and TikTok creators.

For Friday, market participants will react to the Labor Department's December jobs report, as well as an earnings report from Constellation Brands (STZ  ) -- both due out in the morning.