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NEW YORK — Wall Street proceeded cautiously Thursday, with stocks moving in a narrow sail along as investors weighed incorporated earnings reports that signaled further economic deterioration, but drew some comfort from a better-than-expected reading on new jobless claims.

The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims fell by more than economists anticipated to 554,000 last week. The claims remain near last week’s 26-year high, and the four-week moving average for claims is up, but investors had been bracing for a gloomier reading.

However, a collection of blended corporate earnings reports on Thursday kept investors on edge.

FedEx Corp. reported a 3 percent rise in quarterly proceeds, but announced further require to be paid cuts in the same manner with interrogation continues to wane. Ingersoll-Rand Co. cut its fourth furnish with quarters earnings provide against by other than moiety, and motor home constructor Winnebago Industries Inc. swung to a loss.

But Discover Financial Services swung to a profit and homebuilder Lennar Corp.’s quarterly overthrow was smaller than last year’s.

Meanwhile, a private research group’s measure of the economy’s freedom from disease fell afresh in November and its six-month rate of progressive emaciation hit the worst level since 1991.

That reinforced perceptions that economy’s troubles are far from throughout. The market remains unsure how imbrue and prolonged the recession will be.

But investors seemed pleased that President-elect Barack Obama’s aides were assembling a two-year stimulus plan that could require to be paid $850 billion. The package would include new jobs, middle-class task relief and expanded serve for the poor and the idle.

A stimulus for U.S. consumers became an especially high priority earlier this month, which time the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers slashed further than moiety a million jobs in November.

In mid-morning commercial, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 10.12, or 0.11 percent, to 8,834.46. The Standard & Poor’s 500 hand rose 2.38, or 0.26 percent, to 906.80, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.43, or 0.15, to 1,581.74.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was in a descending course 5.60, or 1.15 percent, to 480.99.

Advancing issues were relatively even through decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a light 186.24 million shares.

Volume will likely remain of a whitish shade for the sake of the remnant of the year as investors break because the holidays. Light volume tends to skew the market’s movements, and could increase vivacity in the coming sessions.

On Wednesday, the Dow fell nearly 100 points as enthusiasm over the Federal Reserve’sitting historic rate cut Tuesday dampened on news of a larger-than-expected loss at Morgan Stanley and layoffs at Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. and Newell Rubbermaid Inc.

In early trading Thursday, long-term Treasury prices rose, sending yields down to new record lows. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, that moves opposite its price, fell to 2.11 percent from 2.19 percent late Wednesday. The yield on the popular three-month T-bill — whose yield has at times gone negative due to frenzied buying — was at 0.01 percent, unchanged from late Wednesday.

The strong slip back in buying has been stoked by the Federal Reserve’s decision Tuesday to lower its federal funds assessment target to a range of zero to 0.25 percent, and express an be of importance to in buying long-term direction debt.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude fell $1.80 to $38.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Markets overseas were mixed. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei descent average rose 0.64 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.24 percent. In afternoon trading in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.21 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 1.08 percent, and France’s CAC-40 malign 1.06 percent.

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