NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks spun their wheels early Thursday as mixed economic news and continued war worries competed with some positive earnings in retail and telecom and strength in chips.

Around 10:00 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average (down 12.25 to 7988.35, Charts) and S&P 500 index (up 0.58 to 845.71, Charts) both hovered near unchanged, while the Nasdaq composite (up 4.14 to 1338.46, Charts) edged a little higher

Investors considered a slew of economic news that failed to shed consistent light on the level of economic recovery being experienced in the United States -- and varied widely from economists' expectations.

The Producer Price Index, a key measure of prices at the wholesale level, rose 1.6 percent in January compared with a loss of 0.1 percent in December and economists' expectations of a 0.5 percent gain. Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the PPI picked up 0.9 percent. There, economists had expected a 0.1 percent gain. Rises in producer pricers often bring up worries of inflation.

Also, the Labor Department said jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 15 rose to 402,000 from 377,000 the previous week and well ahead of the 385,000 economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected.

The government also said the trade balance for December came in at a negative $44.2 billion compared with expectations of a negative $38.6 billion. That raises chances that fourth-quarter gross domestic product will be revised lower, and may mean the economy contracted in the fourth quarter.

All three indexes lost ground Wednesday, after two consecutive sessions of gains, as fears that a war with Iraq might be unavoidable crept back into news reports. The New York Stock Exchange logged its lightest volume of the year so far Wednesday, at just under 1.1 billion shares traded.

Investors also awaited more economic news. Around 10 a.m. ET they will get data on the leading indicators for January, forecast to be flat after edging up 0.1 percent in December. The indicators are a sign of the economy's direction in the next six to nine months.

More important for traders will be the Philadelphia Fed survey of manufacturing conditions within its region, due out at noon. Economists expect the Philly Fed's index slipped to 11 from 11.2 in January. Any number over zero indicates growth.

Keeping the market from deeper losses in early trading were decent earnings reports from some telecom and retail names. Also, Merrill Lynch gave a broad upgrade to chips, helping that sector higher.

Overseas, most Asian markets closed fractionally lower. But, European shares were mixed in midday trading.

Treasury prices fell slightly, leaving the 10-year note yield at 3.89 percent. The dollar edged lower against the euro and the Japanese yen.

Brent crude oil futures for April delivery fell 5 cents to $32.28 in London. Gold for April delivery rose $2.70 an ounce to $352.70.