GLOBAL-MARKETS-Stocks edge down,?yields rise ahead of US jobs report; defense shares gain

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Oil prices rise as traders watch Venezuela developments

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Eyes on US nonfarm payrolls; bets of two more Fed cuts remain

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Wall Street indexes mostly lower

(Updates to late morning)

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Marc Jones

NEW YORK/LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes mostly eased and Treasury yields rose on Thursday ahead of Friday's key U.S. jobs report, ?while defense company shares jumped amid U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for a $1.5 trillion military budget.

An aerospace and defense index rose to ?an all-time high, with European defense shares also hitting a new high. Oil prices also climbed ?as investors monitored developments in Venezuela.

Over the weekend, U.S. military forces captured ?Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The ?White House said on Tuesday that Trump was also discussing options for acquiring Greenland.

Data showed the number of Americans filing ?new applications for unemployment benefits rose moderately last week, ?suggesting that layoffs were relatively low at the end of 2025, though demand for labor remained sluggish.

Traders are pricing in at least two rate cuts from ?the Federal Reserve this year, although a divided ?central bank indicated ?in December there would be only one cut in 2026. The Fed is expected to keep rates steady at its meeting this month.

Friday's U.S. employment report for ?December will be key.

"From an interest rate standpoint, it's not clear how Fed policy should or will react to that and what it means about the economic outlook more than a couple of months forward," said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 171.04 points, or 0.35%, to 49,167.35, the S&P 500 fell 6.83 ?points, ?or 0.09%, to 6,914.96 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 168.65 points, or 0.71%, to 23,420.08.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 2.86 points, or 0.28%, to 1,028.62.

The pan-European ?STOXX 600 index fell 0.21%.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.08% to 98.81.

The euro flirted with its eighth straight drop against the dollar.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 4.1 basis points to 4.179%, from 4.138% late on Wednesday.

Venezuela's default-stricken bonds were finally cooling off following their near 40% surge after the weekend's events fuelled investor hopes for ?a massively complex debt restructuring.

U.S. crude rose 1.8% to $57.00 a barrel and Brent rose to $61.13 per barrel, up 1.95% on the day. Gold prices were nearly flat.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Marc Jones in London; Additional reporting by ?Karen Brettell In New York and Rae Wee in Singapore; Editing by Toby Chopra and Bernadette Baum)