Blue Chips Climb Early

Updated from 8:02 a.m. EDT

Stocks were narrowly mixed at the open Monday as blue chips attempted a modicum of recovery from the giant selloff in the previous session, while tech shares struggled to find footing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 39 points to 12,249, and the S&P 500 was adding 4 points to 1365. The Nasdaq Composite saw choppy trading out of the gate and recently ticked up 2 points at 2477.

Last time out, stocks were caught in a landslide as oil prices rampaged higher by more than $10 a barrel to a new record and the Labor Department said the unemployment rate jumped last month. The Dow plummeted nearly 400 points.

Crude oil futures remained at extraordinarily high levels in the new session, but saw a bit of profit-taking amid news that Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi has called Friday's massive gains "unjustified," according to the Saudi Press Agency. Recently, oil was off $2.24 to $136.30 a barrel.

Further, the nationwide average for gas prices at the pump hit the $4 milestone on Sunday, according to AAA, and recently it was another all-time high of $4.023 a gallon.

Gold futures were adding $3.40 to $902.40 an ounce. The U.S. dollar firmed 0.3% against the euro to $1.5720 and climbed 1% against the yen at 106.12.

Among companies, Lehman Brothers (LEH Quote) announced plans to raise $6 billion through an offering for common and preferred stock, and said it expects to post a fiscal second-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, or $5.14 a share. Word of a cash-raising and a big loss has been circulating since last week. Shares were sliding 8.4%.