The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 13 points to 12,514.

AT&T Inc. helped support the blue-chip average, rising 1.3% at the open.

The company late Thursday offered additional concessions to regulators to approve its $85 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp.. If the deal goes through, it will be the largest telecommunications merger in U.S. history.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6 points to 1,425 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 7 points at 2,433.

Shares of Apple Computer jumped 4.4% to $84.45 at the open, after the company said chief executive Steve Jobs was aware of favorable stock-option grant dates but didn't personally benefit from it.

Apple said a special committee of its board also found no evidence of misconduct by current Apple management.

"Usually this day of the year is very uneventful," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak. "There's no new news, except Apple's news. I am not expecting much to happen as people square their books and do some window-dressing."

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The futures contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average last was up 5 points at 12,579.

Futures contracts for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were up 1.20 point at 1,435 and up 4 points at 1,778.

On Thursday stocks closed mildly lower after the Dow Jones industrials managed to set a new intraday high, as the brunt of selling pressure seen earlier in the day disappeared. The new high for the Dow was 12,529.

Investors will occupy themselves with end-of-the-year details on Friday and price action is likely to be restrained.

"Usually this day of the year is very uneventful," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak. "There's no new news, except Apple's news. I am not expecting much to happen as people square their books and do some window-dressing."

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The futures contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average last was down 1 point at 12,586.

Futures contracts for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were down 0.50 point at 1,436.60 and down 2.2 points at 1,777.

On Wednesday the Dow reached its first intraday and closing levels above 12,500, after unexpectedly robust housing sales data cheered investors into making last-minute additions to their 2006 portfolios.

The market is unlikely to extend the gains at Wednesday's opening, but gains are possible later in the day or on Friday, the final trading day of the year, if new data lift investors' spirits, according to Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.

"We haven't had much data out this week, but today's numbers should inspire the market," he said.

There was limited market reaction to news that weekly jobless claims rose by 1,000 to 317,000 in the week to Dec. 23. Continuing jobless claims hit their highest level in nearly a year.

Three more reports are on the way at 10 a.m. Eastern. (2300hrs S'pore)

Existing home sales figures for November will be studied carefully to see if they echo the new home sales report in suggesting the real estate sector may be stronger than previously thought. The MarketWatch forecast, based on a survey of economists, is for 6.20 million homes sold, which would mark a decrease from 6.24 million home sales in October.

The Chicago purchasing managers report for this month is expecting to show an improvement to 50.9% from 49.9%. Signs of stronger factory activity would be a relief to investors, following concerns earlier in the month about the shrinking manufacturing sector.

The Consumer Confidence report for December is forecast by MarketWatch to have a headline reading of 101.9, which would be down from 102.9 in November.

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