*

Synopsys ( SNPS ) falls after forecasting FY25 revenue below

estimates

*

Focus on Friday's payrolls data

*

Indexes: Dow down 0.4%, S&P 500 off 0.1%, Nasdaq down

0.01%

(Updates to afternoon trading)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Dec 5 (Reuters) -

U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday, with technology

shares easing after recent sharp gains and investors bracing for

Friday's jobs report, but all three indexes remained close to

the previous session's closing high.

The S&P 500 technology index was down 0.3%

from the record closing high on Wednesday, when both other major

U.S. stock indexes also notched closing highs.

Shares of UnitedHealth ( UNH ) were down 4.7% and the

stock the biggest weight on the Dow and S&P 500.

On Wednesday

, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's ( UNH ) insurance unit,

was killed outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel in what police

described as a targeted attack.

Forecasters believe Friday's employment report will show

nonfarm payrolls increased by 200,000 jobs in November, a

Reuters survey showed. In October, payrolls rose 12,000, the

smallest rise since December 2020.

Data

earlier in the day

showed the number of Americans filing new applications for

unemployment benefits rose slightly last week.

Daniel Morgan, portfolio manager at Synovus Trust in

Atlanta, Georgia, said investors are digesting economic data and

looking ahead to Friday's employment report.

"Obviously the Street is going to be trading on what the

Fed is going to do," he said. "Also, there is a new

administration coming in that's going to be friendly to the

stock market and the economy."

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said

the U.S. economy is stronger now than the central bank had

expected when it started cutting rates in September, and he

appeared to signal support for a slower pace of reductions.

Markets are pricing in about a 70% chance of a 25-bp

rate cut this month, and a 30% chance of a pause.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 174.96

points, or 0.39%, to 44,839.08, the S&P 500 lost 4.55

points, or 0.07%, to 6,081.94 and the Nasdaq Composite

lost 1.93 points, or 0.01%, to 19,733.18.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's win in the Nov. 5

elections helped to lift stocks in November as investors cheered

his talk of tax cuts and looser regulation.

Shares of Synopsys ( SNPS ) fell 12.2% after the chip design

software firm forecast fiscal 2025 revenue below Wall Street

expectations, in part due to a slump in China sales.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks lost steam

after surging earlier in the day when bitcoin, the

world's largest cryptocurrency, stormed above the $100,000 mark

for the first time.

MicroStrategy ( MSTR ), the largest corporate holder of

bitcoin, was down 3.9%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.14-to-1

ratio on the NYSE. There were 330 new highs and 65 new lows on

the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 1,592 stocks rose and 2,684 fell as

declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.69-to-1 ratio.

(Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal in

Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Maju Samuel)