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The US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday on optimism about additional stimulus continued to support the markets along with largely upbeat earnings news, a slowdown in the rate of coronavirus infections and accelerated vaccine rollouts. Traders have recently seemed somewhat reluctant to make substantial moves amid concerns the markets are becoming overbought. However, the chopping trading on market came as buying interest was somewhat subdued following recent strength, but traders also largely refrained from cashing in on the recent gains amid concerns about missing out on further upside.

Traders were also digesting a report from the Labor Department showing jobless claims decreased from an upwardly revised level but came in above estimates. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims edged down to 793,000 in the week ended February 6th, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level of 812,000. Street had expected jobless claims to drop to 757,000 from the 779,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Nasdaq rose 53.24 points or 0.38 percent to 14,025.77 and S&P 500 was up by 6.5 points or 0.17 percent to 3,916.38, while Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.1 points or 0.02 percent to 31,430.7.