NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks were mixed in midday action Thursday, struggling for direction ahead of tomorrow's overarching government jobs report. Signs of continued improvement in the employment picture had brought the market into positive territory after a weak open prompted by selling in Europe with Spanish bond yields on the rise but both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 have since fallen back below the flat line. The Dow was down 8 points, or 0.06%, at 13,067.