Trading was volatile again, but not to the extreme seen over the past week. The Dow and the Nasdaq composite mostly stayed in positive territory for much of the session.

Profits from companies like Nokia Corp. came in better than expected, and the Labor Department said jobless claims rose last week by a slightly smaller number than economists predicted. The numbers all helped steady a market that has seen stability in short supply.

Analysts said the jobless report in particular helped stocks, as it indicated that the labor market is holding up. The figures were released a day before the government's highly anticipated July employment report, to be issued before the start of trading on Friday.

"Something that has kept consumers spending is that unemployment is very low," said Janna Sampson, director of portfolio management at Oakbrook Investments. "Even if they're being pinched a little bit by oil prices or the inability to borrow, people will spend if they have a job. If we see employment weakening, that's really, really negative."

But with the market jumpy about rising mortgage defaults leading to losses and tougher lending standards, it was impossible to tell whether the market's two-day advance, which has lifted the Dow 250 points, will stick. In the latest indication that the lending climate is still deteriorating, Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., a nonbank mortgage lender, said in a filing Thursday its business is in jeopardy, and its stock plummeted 41 percent.

The Dow rose 100.96, or 0.76, to 13,463.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 index picked up 6.39, or 0.44 percent, closing at 1,472.20, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 22.11, or 0.87 percent, to 2,575.98.

Bonds were little changed, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note at 4.79 percent, the same as late Wednesday.

The blue chip index, now about 4 percent below the record close it reached in early July, has seen triple-digit swings become the norm in recent weeks as investors received a series of unpleasant reports about the mortgage and corporate lending markets. Stocks have been up-ended by concerns not only about the fallout from mortgage defaults, but also that credit will be less available to fund the merger deals that helped power Wall Street higher this year.

Another reason for the market's volatility is that the Dow rose to the 14,000 mark so quickly, said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. He has predicted the Dow will end the year at 14,000. "From that perspective, the market got a little ahead of itself," he said.

He added, though, that late-day surges are heartening. "Movements in the last half-hour are generally smarter money. It's usually program trading, institutional buying or selling," Ablin said.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept their key interest rates steady Thursday. More rate boosts overseas could further injure the dollar, which is trading near multi-year lows against the euro and the British pound.

In other economic data, U.S. factories saw demand for their goods rise in June by 0.6 percent, up from a 0.5 percent drop in May but lower than expected.

Several major earnings reports came in strong Thursday.

Nokia, the biggest cell phone maker in the world, said its second-quarter profit more than doubled on strong sales. U.S. shares of the Finnish company soared $2.49, or 8.8 percent, to $30.90.

Profits at Lear Corp. surpassed Wall Street projections, despite a failed buyout bid led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Shares picked up 78 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $34.15.

CVS Caremark Corp. rose $1.25, or 3.5 percent, to $36.79 after it posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Meanwhile, another takeover deal lifted the market's spirits — at least for the time being. Fiserv Inc. said it agreed to buy CheckFree Corp. in an all-cash deal worth about $4.4 billion, driving up CheckFree's shares $8.57, or 23.3 percent, to $45.40. Fiserve rose 31 cents to $49.50.

But not all company news was positive Thursday: Nortel Networks Corp. tumbled $1.25, or 5.8 percent, to $20.49 after reporting quarterly results that disappointed investors. Also, Clorox Co. plunged $4.49, or 7.3 percent, to $57.14 after releasing worse-than-expected projections for later in the year.

Crude oil futures rose 33 cents to $76.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude is still trading below Tuesday's record close of $78.21.

Gold prices rose.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.98 billion shares, compared to 2.42 billion on Wednesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.07, or 0.78 percent, to 783.99.

In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 0.67 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.05 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.5 percent.