U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

U.S. stock averages started Thursday session slightly higher on economic data and volatile energy prices clamping down on attempts to rally the market. Stocks were also supported by a multi-billion deal in which Hilton Hotels Corp. is said to acquire Hilton Group, a move that would reunite the Hilton brands for the first time in more than four decades.

Energy prices slipped ahead of the weekly inventory data, following yesterday’s rise in crude futures on speculation that OPEC may consider output cuts.

Investors paid little respect to the Labor Department's report on unemployment. First-time jobless claims rose by an expected 4,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 322,000.

The airline sector sharply moved to the upside, rebounding from Wednesday's slide. Insurance and chemical stocks also advanced with each group showing a gain of less than 1%.

Energy stocks continued trading in a volatile fashion, moving modestly lower from yesterday’s gains. Networking and defense stocks also posted modest losses in early going.

In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.03, or 0.19%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 2.25, or 0.18%, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 2.98, or 0.13%.

Bonds were little changed, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note steady at 4.37% from late Wednesday.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Warner Music Group Corp (WMG: chart) plans to pay a quarterly dividend of 13 cents a share, or $19.3 million in total on Feb. 14. Warner Music previously announced that it will pay regular quarterly dividends totaling up to $80 million a year. The stock rose 1%.

Christopher & Banks Corp. (CBK: chart), the Minneapolis women's-clothing retailer, reported sales for the four weeks ended Dec. 24 rose 9% to $60.2 million from $55.1 million in the year-earlier period. December same-store sales rose 2%. During the Thanksgiving-through-Christmas period, CBK said, gift-card sales increased to 11 million from 9 million, indicating a 22% increase. The company’s shares advanced 1.2%

ECONOMIC NEWS

Crude oil inventories recorded another build in the latest week, according to government statistics released Thursday, though the advance was far more modest than in the previous week. Stocks of gasoline and distillate fuel oil declined during the period.

The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration revealed that crude oil inventories ticked up by 100,000 barrels for the week ended December 23, climbing to 322.6 million barrels from the prior week's level of 322.5 million barrels. This followed an advance of 1.3 million barrels in the previous week. Oil inventories were 12.6% higher than their levels of the same time last year.

Gasoline inventories posted a week-over-week decline of 1.2 million barrels, the government said, compared to the previous week's slide of 300,000 barrels. Gasoline stocks were 6% below their levels of last year. Inventories of distillate fuel oil fell by 900,000 barrels in the most recent week.

The National Associations of Realtors released its report on existing home sales in the month of November on Thursday, showing that sales fell slightly more than economist had been expecting.

The National Associations of Realtors released its report on existing home sales in the month of November on Thursday, showing that sales fell slightly more than economist had been expecting.

The report showed that existing home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.97 million units in November from a 7.09 million unit rate in October. Economists had been expecting sales to fall to a 7.00 million unit rate.

The report also showed that the national median existing-home price came in at $215,000 in November, up 13.2 percent year-over-year.

Additionally, total housing inventory levels rose 1.2 percent to 2.90 million existing homes for sale at the end of November, a 5-month supply at the current sales pace.

Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended December 24. The report showed that jobless claims rose slightly less than economists had expected.