US STOCKS-Wall St flat; broker upgrades offset jobs data

* Brokerage upgrades offset data; GE up more than 7 pct

* U.S. unemployment rate highest in more than 26 yrs

* Dow flat, S&P 500 up 0.1 pct, Nasdaq up 0.1 pct

* For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US] (Updates to afternoon, changes byline)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks barely budged in a choppy trading session on Friday, lifted by several broker upgrades that offset disappointing data showing the unemployment rate rose to its highest in more than 26 years.

General Electric Co (GE.N) jumped 6.4 percent to $15.36 after two analysts' upgrades and helped push the industrial sector higher. The S&P industrial index .GSPI was up 1.1 percent.

The market fell at the open and briefly turned positive after closer inspection of the report showed payroll losses kept declining and job losses for earlier months were revised lower. For details, see [ID:nN06178752].

"GE got upgraded, which I thought was astonishing -- how bold," said Cummins Catherwood, managing director at Boenning and Scattergood in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

"But the trend is better -- most of the stuff we see is more positive than negative, or at least less negative than it might have been."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 2.04 points, or 0.02 percent, to 10,008.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX added 0.78 of a point, or 0.07 percent, to 1,067.41. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC rose 2.28 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,107.60.

Bernstein Research and Oppenheimer upgraded their ratings on GE to "outperform" as they believe there will be major divestitures over the next two to three years. They also see a favorable entry point after the stock underperformed since the middle of October. [ID:nN06538139]

Travelers Cos Inc (TRV.N) gave thebiggest boost to the Dow. Shares of Travelers rose 2.3 percent to $51.79 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the insurer's stock along with XL Capital (XL.N), which rose 3.1 percent to $17.10, to "buy" from "neutral". [ID:nBNG422402]

The KBW Insurance index .KIX added 0.8 percent.

But bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc (AIG.N) tumbled 9.1 percent to $35.71 after it said its main insurance business remained weak. [ID:nN06174086]