NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks stalled early Thursday, one session after a steep selloff caused the Dow's biggest one-day point drop in nearly seven weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 135.75 to 10,109.18, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 0.23 to 1,113.33, Charts) index inched below unchanged in the first ten minutes of trading. The Nasdaq composite (up 3.53 to 1,889.24, Charts) was a little higher.

Worries about corporate earnings and oil prices had sent stocks reeling Wednesday. There was little in Thursday's corporate or economic news to push markets in either direction.

Treasury prices inched higher, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to 3.97 percent from 3.98 percent late Wednesday. The yield fell below 4 percent Wednesday for the first time since April. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Approximately 350,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment last week, according to a Labor Department report released before the open. That was up from an upwardly revised 336,000 new claims the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting 338,000 new claims.

Due shortly after the open, the Conference Board's index of leading indicators is expected to have fallen 0.2 percent in August, according to Briefing.com estimates, after falling 0.3 percent in July.

Not helping early sentiment was another earnings miss from a brokerage, in this case A.G. Edwards. Morgan Stanley reported lower than expected results Wednesday. A.G. Edwards (AGE: unchanged at $34.47, Research, Estimates) reported earnings and revenue Thursday that were short of estimates, but grew from a year earlier.

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Exxon Mobil led a number of oil stocks declining in the early going. Deutsche Bank Securities downgraded the global oil sector, and also cut its ratings on Exxon and Royal Dutch Petroleum to "hold" from "buy." Both Exxon (XOM: unchanged at $48.86, Research, Estimates) and Royal Dutch (RD: unchanged at $51.93, Research, Estimates) fell.

Oil prices stepped back after yesterday's rally, although supply concerns remained. Brent crude oil futures fell 31 cents to $44.62 a barrel in London.

COMEX gold added $2.10 to $411.10 an ounce.

In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the yen and euro.