NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks were mixed early Thursday, as investors welcomed a drop in weekly jobless claims, but were reluctant to press further ahead after a stellar three-session rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 2.29 to 10,462.16, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 0.25 to 1,185.31, Charts) index were little changed and the Nasdaq composite (down 0.07 to 2,030.58, Charts) gained a bit in the early going.

The major gauges surged for the first three days of the week in a broad-based advance that pushed the Dow to its highest close in a month. The rally was sparked by a mix of optimism about the economy, relief that oil prices have fallen and some old-fashioned short covering after the recent selloff.

But with all three stock gauges rising nearly 3 percent in such a short period, investors were a bit more cautious Thursday.

Helping early sentiment was a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims. Claims fell to 321,000 last week from a revised 340,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought claims would fall to 330,000.

Among early stock movers, Netflix (up $3.21 to $18.71, Research) jumped nearly 20 percent after Wal-Mart Stores (unchanged at $47.58, Research) opted to end its DVD-by-mail rental service and instead market Netflix's brand, as part of a partnership deal.

Shares of Netflix had been up even higher in early-hours trade before the company issued a statement saying the deal wouldn't have much impact on growth.

U.S. light crude for June delivery rose 7 cents to $47.32 a barrel in electronic trading.

Treasury prices were little changed, with the benchmark 10-year note yield holding steady at 4.08 percent.

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

COMEX gold rose $2.10 to settle at $421.90 an ounce.