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| - Wall Street stocks were little changed early Thursday as worries about the economic hit from the coronavirus offset enthusiasm for Airbnb's stock market debut. New applications for unemployment benefits in the US surged last week by 137,000 to 853,000, according to government data, far higher than economists had been expecting. About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent at 30,009.64. The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.1 percent to 3,669.23, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 percent at 12,350.71. Besides the downbeat employment data, investors have concerns about lofty equity valuations that have lifted major indices to records in the last week. Some analysts think the valuations incorporate expectations for more congressional stimulus spending that remains up in the air. While Congress has yet to move, the European Central Bank announced new stimulus measures to help the eurozone weather a second wave of the coronavirus, underscoring anew the robust response of central banks. Home-sharing giant Airbnb was set for its Wall Street debut later Thursday with a whopping $47 billion valuation. The debut comes after DoorDash began trading on Wednesday with a lofty $39 billion valuation. jmb/cs
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