NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks were mixed early Thursday, with investors still bruised after Wednesday's big selloff despite some upbeat earnings.

A rise in oil prices added to the early unease.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 5.69 to 10,398.24, Charts), the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 1.27 to 1,172.52, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (down 3.65 to 1,970.72, Charts) were all close to the breakeven point in the early going.

On Wednesday, the major gauges got slammed, with the Nasdaq registering its worst one-day percentage loss in two months, on worries about corporate earnings and a weak read on retail sales.

Investors opted to take a more wait-and-see approach early Thursday, with higher oil prices competing with in-line economic news and mostly higher earnings.

U.S. light crude oil for May delivery rose 41 cents to $50.63 a barrel in electronic trading.

In economic news, the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment fell to 330,000 last week from 340,000 the previous week, the government said Thursday. That was in line with estimates.

Business inventories rose 0.5 percent in February, according to a separate report. That was in line with forecasts and following a rise of 0.9 percent in January.

Late Wednesday, Apple Computer reported fiscal second-quarter earnings, revenue and iPod shipments that grew from a year earlier and beat estimates, thanks to strong sales of its blockbuster music player, Mac mini and Powerbook.

The tech behemoth also forecast third-quarter earnings above current estimates and revenue that was in line with current estimates.

However, some analysts argued that the revenue outlook was disappointing in that it did not surpass estimates. That belief, paired with the fact that the stock has risen more than 200 percent in the last 12 months, sent Apple (down $1.83 to $39.21, Research) shares lower in the early going.

Also after the close, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices reported quarterly earnings that missed estimates on revenue that beat estimates. The company also reported gross margins, a key measure of profitability, that were beneath estimates.

However, the company also said its troubled memory chip business has filed for an initial public offering. The IPO news sparked upgrades from Prudential and Piper Jaffray Thursday, boosting AMD (down $0.11 to $16.95, Research) shares.

Treasury prices were flat, with the yield holding at 4.36 percent.

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

COMEX gold fell $3.50 to $427.50 an ounce, falling with other dollar-traded commodities.