Flat open on jobs data

The markets opened flat with the Dow adding a point to 17,880 as private employers added fewer jobs than expected in November. Nasdaq slipped 3 points to 4,751.

On the upside

Sequenom (Nasdaq: SQNM) and Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN) settled all patent infringement claims and will pool their noninvasive prenatal testing intellectual properties.

MOL Global (Nasdaq: MOLG) extended its gains.

JD.com (Nasdaq: JD) partnered with Grameen China to launch a crowdfunding micro financing project.

On the downside

Goldman Sachs downgraded J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) from a Neutral rating to a Sell rating.

J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster downgraded Taser International (Nasdaq: TASR) from an Overweight rating to a Neutral rating.

Shares of Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) continued falling.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 3 points to 2070. Bitcoin eased $1 to $375.