NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks gained Thursday morning, as strength in overseas markets and anticipation about earnings due after the closing bell overshadowed higher oil prices, rising bond yields and some mixed economic news.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 18.73 to 10,693.49, Charts), the broader S&P 500 (up 4.09 to 1,235.30, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 10.11 to 2,198.04, Charts) all inched higher in the early going, with the Nasdaq the most upbeat

Stocks barely budged Wednesday as higher oil prices and a rally in precious metals kept investors in check.

The tone was more upbeat Thursday morning, due in part to strength in overseas markets and positive bets about earnings from Hewlett-Packard (up $0.39 to $28.66, Research) and Walt Disney (down $0.05 to $25.80, Research) due tonight.

A bigger than expected drop in weekly jobless claims added to the morning's positives, as did upbeat readings on industrial production and capacity utilization.

On the downside, a separate report showed that the pace of housing starts and building permits slowed more than expected in October. (Full story.)

Among stock movers, Applied Materials (down $0.59 to $17.18, Research) slipped after reporting quarterly earnings and revenue late Wednesday that fell from a year earlier. The chipmaker also issued a current-quarter earnings forecast that was short of earlier estimates.

U.S. light crude oil for December climbed 59 cents to $58.47 a barrel in electronic trading.

That helped boost oil stocks, sending the Philadelphia Oil Service (Charts) index up 1.3 percent.

Treasury prices slumped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to about 4.49 percent from 4.47 percent late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar declined versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold rallied $5.90 to $485 an ounce.

In global trade, major Asian markets ended higher and European shares gained at midday.