NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks crept higher early Thursday, supported by sliding crude oil prices and a surprise drop in jobless claims.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 25.35 to 10,829.19, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 0.09 to 1,213.45, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (down 0.19 to 2,177.00, Charts) all gained modestly around ten minutes into the new session.

Volume was light and trading was expected to remain thin heading into the New Year.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week fell to 326,000, the Labor Department said, from a downwardly revised 331,000 the previous week. Wall Street Economists thought claims would rise to 335,000.

Also adding support: U.S. light crude for February delivery fell 85 cents to $42.79 a barrel in electronic trading.

Due after the start of trading, the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index for December is expected to have fallen to 63.0 from 65.2 in November.

Among early stock movers, Dow component Boeing (unchanged at $52.07, Research) inched higher, recovering from Wednesday's selloff and bolstered by news that Continental Airlines (unchanged at $13.45, Research) has ordered 10 of Boeing's 7E7 wide-body jets.

Treasury prices rose, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 4.31 percent from 4.32 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar inched slightly higher versus the euro and slipped versus the yen.

COMEX gold fell $1.40 to $435.60 an ounce.

In global trade, Asian markets ended mixed Wednesday and European markets were mixed at midday.