New York, Aug 6 (AP) Stocks are off to a sluggish start on Wall Street as a four-day rally in the S&P 500 cools off.

The benchmark index was down 0.2 per cent in the early going on Thursday, a day after it came within 2 per cent of the record high it reached in February.

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The latest report on jobs was grim but did offer a few glimmers of hope.

Nearly 1.2 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the number wasn't quite as bad as economists were expecting and was the lowest level since mid-March.

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Treasury yields fell and gold prices continued to rise. (AP)

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