NEW YORK — Wall Street squeaked into positive territory Thursday, as investors fretted that the corporate earnings season will trample on signs of recovery from the severe recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 4.76 points (0.06 percent) to finish at 8,183.17.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 5.38 points (0.31 percent) to 1,752.55 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 3.12 points (0.35 percent) to 882.68.
After opening higher, stocks spent most of the session in the red in choppy trading as investors braced for the earnings season.
"There has been a sharp increase in investor pessimism in recent days," said Scott Marcouiller of Wells Fargo Advisors.
Stocks had an early boost when Alcoa reported after the closing bell Wednesday a second-quarter net loss less severe than market expectations.
"With Wall Street nearly shaking in its boots ahead of a new round of corporate earnings, Alcoa Inc.'s better-than-expected quarterly report came as a breath of fresh air," said Joseph Hargett of Schaeffer's Investment Research.
Shares in Alcoa, the first Dow member to report second-quarter results, dropped 2.43 percent to $9.23 after opening more than 4.0 percent higher.
On the macroeconomic front, new claims for US unemployment benefits fell 8.4 percent in the past week to a six-month low, but the number was skewed by fewer-than-expected layoffs in the automotive sector, the Labor Department said.
Initial claims, it added, fell to a seasonally adjusted 565,000 in the week ended July 4, shortened by the Independence Day holiday.
The data also showed those claiming jobless insurance benefits rose to an all-time high of 6.883 million in the prior week.
"Strength in financials was offset by weakness in defensive sectors, such as health care and consumer staples," Charles Schwab & Co. analysts said after the market close.
Merck was the Dow's biggest decliner, plunging 3.67 percent to $27.01, after signing an exclusive deal with Portola Pharmaceuticals to develop an anticoagulant. Merck is to pay Portola up to $470 million.
Rival drugmaker Pfizer fell 2.19 percent to $14.29 and healthcare products giant Johnson & Johnson slipped 0.68 percent to $56.69.
Banking shares advanced, with the S&P banking index posting a 1.43 percent gain. Goldman Sachs vaulted 3.36 percent to $143.21 after a recommendation by Bank of America analysts.
Citigroup rose 2.67 percent to $2.69. The bank announced a management shakeup, notably naming John Gerspach as chief financial officer, the third person in the job this year.
ConocoPhillips leapt 2.21 percent to $40.31 after signing a deal with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to develop the emirate's Shah Gas Field.
Sprint soared 3.96 percent to $4.46. The telecom announced a seven-year deal with Ericcson for the Swedish company to run its wireless and wireline network for between $4.5-5.0 billion.
Bonds retreated sharply Thursday. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond jumped to 3.413 percent from 3.289 percent Wednesday while that on the 30-year bond advanced to 4.318 percent from 4.164 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
