NEW YORK - WALL Street squeaked into positive territory on Thursday as investors fretted that the corporate earnings season will trample on signs of recovery from the severe recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 2.64 points (0.03 per cent) to 8,181.05 at the market close.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 5.38 points (0.31 per cent) to 1,752.55 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 2.79 points (0.32 per cent) to a preliminary close of 882.35.

After opening higher, stocks spent most of the session in the red in choppy trading.

'With Wall Street nearly shaking in its boots ahead of a new round of corporate earnings, Alcoa Inc's better-than-expected quarterly report came as a breath of fresh air,' said Joseph Hargett of Schaeffer's Investment Research.

After the closing bell on Wednesday, Alcoa reported a net loss of US$454 million in the second quarter, which was not as bad as feared. -- AFP