Stocks ended mixed on Thursday as the positive sentiment towards a near-term coronavirus stimulus package began to fizzle out and weekly unemployment claims unexpectedly increased. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 slumped as traders rotated back into the tech heavy Nasdaq as some coronavirus uncertainty began to somewhat outweigh the ongoing vaccine rally.

The Labor Department's weekly jobless claims for the week ended December 5 jumped to 853,000, well above the predicted 725,000 consensus economists forecasted. Continuing unemployment claims also increased, totalling 5.757 million, up from 5.527 million the week previous.

Here's how the market settled on Thursday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): -0.13% or -4.73 points to 3,668.09

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): -0.23% or -69.55 points to 29,999.26

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +0.54% or +66.86 points to 12,405.81

For Stocks, Airbnb (ABNB  ) debuted on Thursday, opening shares at $146 each for a valuation of more than $100 billion on a fully diluted basis. The home rental giant had priced its initial public offering at $68 per share Wednesday evening, raising $3.5 billion in the offering, making the stock one of the largest to price in 2020. Starbucks (SBUX  ) shares popped on Thursday after the company reaffirmed previous guidance for a "significant" rebound in 2021 during the coffee chain's Investor Day on Wednesday. In addition, the company is forecasting growth of at least 20% in fiscal 2022.

For Sector Performance, sectors mostly ended in negative territory at the end of the session. The only gainers were Energy (XLE  ), increasing nearly 3%, and Financials (XLF  ) and Information Technology (XLK  ). Industrials (XLI  ) fell the most, decreasing almost 1%, while Materials (XLB  ) and Utilities (XLU  ) rounded out the bottom three.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) declined on Thursday as sentiment surrounding near-term Congressional fiscal stimulus began to sour. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, slipped 0.2% lower. Gold (GLD  ) prices also decreased as vaccine optimism outweighed weak jobs data and prolonged stimulus talks. Spot gold dropped 0.4% to $1,832.20 per ounce, while gold futures settled 0.1% lower at $1,837.40 per ounce. Crude oil futures settled above $50 per barrel for the first time since early March on Thursday as the persistent vaccine rally bolstered demand recovery hopes over fears. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) surged 2.84% to settle at $50.25 per barrel, rising for a third straight day, while West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) rose 2.8% higher to $46.78 per barrel.

For Friday, market participants will focus on any progress towards additional fiscal stimulus as well as the preliminary reading for December's consumer sentiment index.