Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange near the closing bell of the trading session in New York City
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange near the closing bell of the trading session in New York City

U.S. stocks closed mixed Thursday ahead of the release of a key jobs report and the Federal Reserve's monthly meeting to consider interest rate increases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 194.76 points, or 0.56%, to close at 34,395.01. The S&P 500 fell 3.54 points, or 0.09%, to close at 4,076.57, and the Nasdaq rose 14.45 points, or 0.13%, to close at 11,482.45.

U.S. markets surged Wednesday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signaled a rate increase of 0.5%, rather than 0.75%, was likely to be decided at the central bank's monthly meeting on Dec. 13-14. The Nasdaq jumped 4.41% and the Dow rose 2.18%.

But the Dow gave back some of its gains Thursday. Salesforce (CRM) was one of the biggest decliners. The cloud-based business software company's price of shares plunged more than 8% after co-CEO Bret Taylor announced he would step down.

The Labor Department is scheduled on Friday to release its non-farm jobs report, a key indicator of inflation watched closely by the Federal Reserve. and Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the U.S. added 200,000 jobs in November, which would be a decrease from the 261,000 gained in the prior month.

Some stocks that saw declines Thursday included Costco (COST), which closed at $503.86, down $35.39, or 6.56%. Archer-Daniels Midland's (ADM) price of shares fell $6.17, or 6.33%, to close at $91.33.

"It looks more technical and just looks like an exhale from yesterday's big push," Dave Grecsek, managing director of investment strategy and research at Aspiriant, told CNBC.