NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks rose early Thursday as investors pounced on Nokia's bullish forecast, Texas Instrument's mixed forecast and a drop in weekly jobless claims.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 29.43 to 10,313.36, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 1.92 to 1,118.19, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 8.73 to 1,859.37, Charts) all gained in the early going.

Nokia (NOK: unchanged at $12.71, Research, Estimates) boosted its current-quarter earnings and forecast Thursday, citing solid demand for its phones. The news was a welcome reversal from recent bearish forecasts from the cell phone maker, and investors boosted the shares in the early going.

Investors also cheered a mixed mid-quarter report from Texas Instruments (TXN: unchanged at $18.83, Research, Estimates), released after the close Wednesday. The biggest maker of chips used in cell phones boosted its third-quarter earnings range and lowered its revenue range. However, investors focused on the positives in the company's report and subsequent conference call, pushing the shares higher.

Providing some comfort was the weekly jobless claims report, released early Thursday. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell to 319,000 last week from an upwardly revised 363,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected claims to fall to 345,000.

Due just after the open, wholesale inventories were seen rising 0.6 percent in July after rising 1.1 percent in June, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Stocks fell Wednesday on a mix of profit taking from the previous session's rally and reactions to Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony before the House Budget Committee. The chairman's mostly upbeat testimony seemed to imply interest rates are set to rise at the next Fed meeting.

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Oil prices inched higher ahead of the U.S. weekly inventory data, due around 10:30 a.m. ET. Light crude edged up near $43 a barrel in electronic trading. Brent crude futures rose 21 cents to $40.60 a barrel in London.

Treasury prices were little changed, with the yield at 4.16 percent. The dollar rose versus the yen, and was little changed versus the euro.

In global trade, Asian markets closed mixed, and European markets fell at midday.