U.S. blue chip stocks slipped Thursday as mixed corporate news overshadowed an encouraging weekly jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 12 points, or 0.1%, at 11360.

DuPont led the measure's decline, falling 1.9%.

The diversified manufacturing and science group said it exceeded internal expectations in 2010 and forecast higher margins, but its outlook for 2011 profit of $3.30 to $3.60 a share fell short of the top end of analysts' expectations.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.3% to 2616.

The Standard & Poor's added 0.3% to 1232.

The energy sector lagged.

Range Resources was off 3.8% and Cabot Oil & Gas fell 2%.

But financials gained after Barclays upgraded a trio of asset managers to overweight, saying the stars are aligned at present with respect to the consistency of the strategy views around the equity markets.

Janus Capital rose 4.5%, Waddell & Reed gained 2.5% and Legg Mason climbed 1.9%.

But State Street fell 3.6% on the sale of about $11 billion of mortgage and asset backed securities that is expected to result in the institutional money management company posting a loss of $350 million against its fourth quarter results.

U.S. stocks pared gains after several Irish opposition groups said they would vote against the country's bailout package.

Earlier in the day, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ireland to BBB+, the third lowest investment grade rating, citing the costs of restructuring the country's banking system and the loss of access to affordable funding in the market.

Shoring up sentiment on Thursday, the Labor Department said initial unemployment claims fell by more than expected last week.

However, the previous week's figures were revised slightly upward.

Still, Thursday's report was largely encouraging to investors.

European Markets

European stocks ended at a multiyear closing high for the third straight session Thursday, with banks and chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV leading the gains, while investors shrugged off a downgrade of Ireland.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.4% at 275.93 its highest closing level since late September 2008.

Shares in ASML Holding closed up 8% after the company lifted its forecast for fourth quarter bookings to more than EUR2 billion and said it sees stronger than expected demand for lithography equipment from most semiconductor market segments.

Other technology stocks were mixed, with Infineon Technologies AG giving up strong early gains to end the session down 4.6% in Frankfurt, while STMicroelectronics NV rose 0.6% in Paris.

Among the main indexes, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 5,807.96, holding on to gains after the Bank of England left the country's key interest rate on hold at 0.5% and maintained its asset purchase program at GBP200 billion, as expected.

Meanwhile, the French CAC 40 index closed up 0.7% at 3,858.05.

Strength among banking stocks helped drive both indexes higher.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group rose 3.3% in London, and BNP Paribas climbed 2.8% in Paris.

The German DAX 30 index, which has significantly lower exposure to banks and higher exposure to industrial and auto stocks, underperformed the other major European averages.

The index closed down 0.2% at 6,964.16 after topping 7,000 Tuesday for the first time in more than two years.

Auto stocks took the brunt of that selling Thursday, with BMW AG falling 2.8% and Volkswagen AG's preference shares dropping 3.9%.

Among other markets, Ireland's ISEQ index rose 0.9% to close at 2,844.26, holding on to gains even after Fitch Ratings cut its rating on the nation to BBB-plus from A-plus.

Asian Markets

Asian equities ended mostly higher Thursday, with shares in Sydney climbing on a strong employment report, but China shares hobbled by concerns a rate hike may be imminent.

Stocks in India dropped sharply after a spate of alleged corruption cases.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.5% to 10,285.88, its highest close since May 14, South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.7% to a three year closing high, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.3%.

China's Shanghai Composite dropped 1.3%.

China's shares fell as some investors interpreted the central bank's scrapping of a regular auction of three year bonds as a sign it will increase interest rates over the weekend.

China is scheduled to issue data on November's consumer price index Saturday, which is expected to show it rose to another two year high.

Banks fell on the tightening concerns, with China Everbright Bank shedding 2.1% and China Merchants Bank losing 1.8%.

But shares in Hong Kong posted gains, led by the financial sector, tracking peers in the U.S.

Index heavyweight HSBC rose 1.0%, while Standard Chartered advanced 2.8% after the London based lender said it is on track to achieve another year of record income and profit in 2010.

Financial plays also rose in Tokyo, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group adding 3.5% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rising 3.7%.

Base Metals

Base metals pared early gains to close mostly lower on the London Metal Exchange Thursday, after investors booked profits on copper's record highs and the dollar rebounded against the euro.

LME three month copper closed down 0.7% at $8,950 a metric ton, having slipped from an early intraday and record high of $9,091/ton.

Tin was the only metal to close the PM kerb higher, up 1.1% at $25,890/ton.

Gains have been underpinned by growing supply concerns, particularly out of Indonesia where adverse weather has significantly affected mining operations, market participants said.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Thursday, after two sessions in the red, tracking a lackluster day for stocks and mild gains for the dollar.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery settled 9 cents higher at $88.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold snapped a two-day losing streak to settle higher as inflation concerns and weaker Treasury yields lured buyers back to the safe harbor asset.

The most actively traded contract, for February delivery, settled up $9.50, or 0.7%, at $1,392.70 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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