Thursday's government data, which showed a gain in jobless claims and a drop in factory orders, gave investors little incentive to make any big moves ahead of the payrolls report.

Wall Street is optimistic the September report will indicate a rebound from August and include revisions to that month's dismal numbers. August's job creation report showed a decline in payrolls when economists had predicted a rise, and sent the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 250 points the day it was released. Since then, the Federal Reserve has lowered a key interest rate and the Dow quickly bounced back to where it was in mid-July, before the credit markets tightened up and caused stocks to plunge.

Friday's report is important because this year's relatively stable job market has been an important prop for the U.S. economy, helping to offset the housing slump and sluggish growth.

"The jobs report can be a real distraction for the market, and with good reason. The number of people working, where they work, how much they get paid, tells us a whole lot about the economy," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at Trusco Capital Management. "In the meantime, the markets are pretty much treading water. A strong report tomorrow will revive notions that the Fed is one and done. If the report continues to be soft, that's going to suggest more easing coming our way."

But while investors are angling for the Fed to lower rates again on October 31 -- which would spur spending by making borrowing cheaper -- they don't want the job market to weaken. When people don't have incomes, they tend to stop spending and become delinquent in their bill payments.

"A relatively strong employment report will be good news for stocks in that it will help support profit growth," Gayle said. "Obviously Fed rate cuts are good, but more earnings is always the best."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.36, or 0.02 percent, to 13,970.41, after shooting to an all-time high Monday and then giving back a large chunk of its gains Tuesday and Wednesday.

Broader stock indicators were also little changed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.12, or 0.14 percent, to 1,541.71, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.29, or 0.08 percent, to 2,731.72.

Bonds rose modestly. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell to 4.54 percent from 4.55 percent late Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Labor Department said jobless claims rose 16,000 to 317,000 in the week ended Sept. 29, a bigger jump than analysts anticipated. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories fell in August by 3.3 percent, slightly worse than expected and the largest amount in seven months. Although the activity reflected in the report predates the Fed's rate cut, it still shows the degree to which the economy has been struggling.

The U.S. dollar fell against most major world currencies, pushing gold higher.

Crude oil futures fell 8 cents to $79.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Falling commodities prices have been dampening mining and energy company stocks. Two big decliners among the 30 Dow components Thursday were aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. and oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. Alcoa fell 46 cents to $37.18, and Exxon fell 87 cents to $90.46.

In corporate news, NutriSystem Inc. cut its third-quarter outlook on a 7 percent decline in new customers and at least three analysts downgraded the diet company's shares. NutriSystem plummeted $15.07, or 32 percent, to $32.50.

Hotel chain Marriott International Inc. on Thursday posted a 7 percent decline in third-quarter profit as lower earnings from timeshares and a higher tax rate offset strong growth in revenue per available room. Marriott fell $1.07, or 2.4 percent, to $43.25.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 374.1 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.34, or 0.40 percent, to 829.49.

Overseas markets were mixed.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.49 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 0.06 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.02 percent.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.62 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 1.84 percent.

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