NEW YORK, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. stocks finished mixed on Thursday as investors await the employment report due on Friday.

    Wall Street opened lower in the morning after the Labor Department said that initial claims for jobless benefits rose 1,000 to 434,000 in the week ended Jan. 2.

    Stocks rebounded from earlier lows as upbeat December retail sales reports were released and increased forecasts lifted some retailers.

    U.S. retailers overall posted a 2.9-percent increase, exceedingthe 2-percent rise analysts were expecting and marking the best performance since a 3.4-percent gain in April 2008, according to Thomson Reuters Data.

    Retailers from Macy's Inc and Nordstrom Inc to Aeropostale Inc and Limited Brands Inc raised their earnings outlooks.

    However, traders were still cautious, awaiting the government's December nonfarm payrolls report which is expected to shed more light on economic recovery and set the tone for the market in following weeks.

    After losing just 11,000 nonfarm payrolls in November, some analysts expect payrolls to have declined by another 10,000 last month, lifting the unemployment rate to 10.1 percent, while others believe the report may show some job creation.

    Shares of Sears Holding Corp rose 11.6 percent to 99.18 U.S. dollars after forecasting strong fourth-quarter profit.

    GE shares rose 5.2 percent to 16.25 dollars after J.P. Morgan raised its price target, saying investors underappreciate potential earnings recovery at the GE Capital finance unit.

    The Dow Jones added 33.18, or 0.31 percent, to 10,606.86. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 4.54, or 0.40 percent, to 1,141.68 and the Nasdaq was down 1.04, or 0.05 percent, to 2,300.05.