Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks pared losses as retailers rallied and financial shares trimmed declines after JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it has funds to buy back at least $1 billion in shares.

JPMorgan rallied 1.5 percent to lead the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher as Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said that the bank may or may not repurchase more shares.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down less than 0.1 percent at 1,257.35 at 12:27 p.m. in New York after slumping as much as 1.1 percent. The Dow climbed 28.42 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,178.55.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael P. Regan at mregan12@bloomberg.net