US STOCKS-Wall Street steady, in holding pattern as Biden edges closer to victory

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* Biden takes narrow lead in Georgia, Pennsylvania
* Tech heavyweights slip after sharp weekly gains
* S&P 500, Nasdaq track best week since April
* Dow down 0.21%, S&P 500 up 0.04%, Nasdaq up 0.13%

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments;
new byline, adds NEW YORK dateline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks held near unchanged
on Friday after strong gains this week as Democratic challenger
Joe Biden edged closer to victory in the presidential election,
while the monthly jobs report underlined the economic challenge
facing America.
Biden extended narrow leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia,
putting him on the verge of winning the White House, although
President Donald Trump has filed lawsuits in battleground states
to contest the results. The three benchmark U.S. stock indexes were on track for
their biggest weekly percentage gains since April as the
prospect of a policy gridlock in Washington eased worries a
Biden administration might tighten regulations on U.S.
companies.
"It's not fairytale land, we don't go up every day so at
some point you would think we would see a little bit of downward
pressure," said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD
Ameritrade in Chicago.
Control of the U.S. Senate could hinge on four as-yet
undecided races. If Republicans retain their majority, they
would likely block large parts of Biden's legislative agenda,
including expanding healthcare and fighting climate change.
"If that is not a split congress, let's face it, that is one
of the reasons we rallied this week – it has less to do with the
stimulus and more to do with a long-term view," Kinahan said.
The government's closely watched report showed unemployment
dropped sharply to 6.9% last month from 7.7% in September, but
job recovery slowed as fiscal support waned and coronavirus
cases surged. After the jobs report, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell said economic statistics indicated Congress should
enact a smaller coronavirus stimulus package that is highly
targeted at the pandemic's effects. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 60.93 points,
or 0.21%, to 28,329.25, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.27 points,
or 0.04%, to 3,511.72 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
15.86 points, or 0.13%, to 11,906.79.
Coty Inc COTY.N surged 17.63% as the cosmetics maker beat
analysts' estimates for quarterly revenue, while T-Mobile US Inc
TMUS.O gained 5.61%% after adding more phone subscribers than
analysts had expected in the third quarter. Electronic Arts Inc EA.O slumped 6.52% after the video
game maker fell short of quarterly sales estimates. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.29-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.41-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 43 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 123 new highs and 24 new lows.

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S&P 500 five day periods after presidential elections https://tmsnrt.rs/3k3IwQr
USA-JOBS-UNEMPLOYMENT-PARTICIPATION interactive https://reut.rs/39ER8aX
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