NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks struggled in choppy trade Thursday, as falling oil prices and bond yields lifted blue chips, but had little impact on techs.

Friday may prove more upbeat for the tech sector, after Intel boosted its first-quarter revenue forecast and Qualcomm was upgraded.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 45.89 to 10,851.51, Charts) added 0.4 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 2.24 to 1,209.25, Charts) index added 0.2 percent. Both had been in negative territory throughout the morning.

The Nasdaq composite (down 1.57 to 2,059.72, Charts) ended just below unchanged, after having been down as much as 0.8 percent near noon.

The Dow managed gains thanks to strength in select stocks. In particular, some of the interest-rate sensitive stocks that had been hit in the recent selloff recovered. Gains were broad, with 23 out of 30 Dow stocks rising.

A more than 2 percent slide in oil prices helped boost blue chips as well.

"It looks like we continue to trade off the price of oil," said Paul H. Levine, president at Lifetime Financial Services. "When oil backs off, it gives the market an excuse to rise."

The Nasdaq was more mixed, as strength in chips countered weakness in Internet and other sectors. Chips rose in response to National Semiconductor's midday earnings report, and ahead of Intel's mid-quarter update, released after the close.

The tech leader boosted its first-quarter sales guidance to a range of between $9.2 and $9.4 billion, versus expectations of sales of $9.14 billion, according to Briefing.com estimates. Intel also boosted its first-quarter forecast for its gross margins, a key measure of profitability.

Intel (Research) stock gained two percent in after-hours trade and gave a lift to other chip issues after hours.

In addition, Qualcomm (Research) was upgraded to "buy" from "neutral" at UBS. The brokerage also boosted its 12-month price target on the wireless technology company to 450 from $45. Shares rose 1.5 percent after-the-bell.

However, any positive momentum Friday could be challenged by the morning's key inflationary read, on the January trade balance, Levine added. "The run up in oil prices in January will probably be reflected in the number," he added.

The trade gap is expected to have widened to $56.8 billion in January, according to Briefing.com estimates, from $56.4 billion in December. It's due at around 8:30 a.m. ET.

After closing at its highest level since June of 2001 last Friday, the Dow fell for the next three sessions, along with the broader market. The S&P 500 peaked Monday, closing at its highest point since July 2001, and fell for the next two sessions.

A consolidation after the almost six-week rally and new worries about inflation sparked the selloff earlier in the week. Although the Dow and S&P 500 rose Thursday, the concerns haven't disappeared. The inflationary concerns also pushed oil prices to within shouting distance of all-time highs. Treasury bond prices slid, propelling yields on bets that interest rates are set to rise, and the dollar continued its descent.

Mixed reads on the economy early Thursday, plus a turnaround in bonds and oil seemed to relieve some of those pressures in the early going. But stocks slid through midday, and only managed a modest advance by the close.

The declines were technical in nature, said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners, and unlikely to extend much beyond the lows of the session.

"Inflation concerns are still out there, bonds continue to not act well, even though they're up a little bit today and oil is not far from the highs," he added.

Tech had a rougher session because it has performed a bit better over the last few sessions, Heekin added.

Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of the Nasdaq's all-time high in March 2000, near the end of the Internet bubble. The Nasdaq closed above 5,000 for the first time on March 9, 2000 and hit an all-time closing high of 5,048.62 on March 10 of that year.

In the early afternoon, National Semiconductor (up $1.13 to $21.12, Research) released higher-than-expected quarterly earnings that fell from a year ago. The chipmaker also authorized a new $400 million stock buyback program. Shares rose 5.7 percent and pulled up other chip stocks.

In addition, optimism about Intel, ahead of the mid-quarter update, also supported the chip sector.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor (up 6.13 to 440.46, Charts) index, or the SOX, rose 1.4 percent, after having been weaker all morning. That gave support to the Nasdaq, helping it trim losses.

The fall in oil prices sent oil and oil services stocks lower.

Dow component Exxon Mobil (down $0.42 to $60.37, Research), Valero Energy (down $3.37 to $68.99, Research) and ChevronTexaco (down $1.27 to $58.49, Research) all retreated and were among the New York Stock Exchange's most-actively traded issues.

The Philadelphia Oil Services (down $2.34 to $136.75, Research) index fell 1.7 percent.

Among other stock movers, Delta Air Lines (down $0.56 to $4.33, Research) fell 11.5 percent after the air carrier forecast that it would record a substantial loss in 2005, due to low margins and high fuel costs.

Other air carriers fell, too, dragging the Dow Jones Transportation (down $28.81 to $2,233.72, Research) average down 0.5 percent.

Market breadth was negative, but improved from the morning. Decliners beat advancers by three to two on both the New York Stock Exchange, where 1.25 billion shares changed hands, and on the Nasdaq, where 1.45 billion shares were traded.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery fell $1.23 to settle at $53.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, crude briefly rose to within two cents of its all-time trading high of $55.65 per barrel, amid cold weather in the Northeast and worries about a supply shortage.

Treasury prices rose after several sessions of selling on inflation concerns. The gain in Treasury prices lowered the 10-year note yield to 4.46 percent from 4.52 percent late Wednesday, a more than seven-month high. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

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

The weekly jobless claims report, released before the open Thursday, showed that 327,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment last week, up from 310,000 a week earlier. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought claims would be unchanged.

Wholesale inventories rose 1.1 percent in January, according to a separate report released after the start of trade. Inventories rose 0.4 percent in December. Economists thought it would rise 0.6 percent.

The February budget deficit worsened to a record $113.9 billion, the Treasury Department said. The figure surpassed expectations for a smaller rise to $100.0 billion from $96.7 billion in January.

COMEX gold rose 50 cents to settle at $443.40 an ounce.

In global trade, Asian-Pacific stocks ended lower, and European shares ended lower.