NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting higher in early trading Wednesday, building on their small gains from the previous day, as markets start to wind down ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. Agricultural equipment maker Deere dealt with plunging sales of tractors, bulldozers and other equipment by slashing costs. The company's fiscal fourth-quarter results and its projections for the current fiscal year were better than analysts expected. Hewlett-Packard reported earnings for the final time Tuesday night, weeks after the tech giant formally split into two separate companies. HP, which inherited the parent company's PC, printer and commercial software business, sank $2.26, or 15.4 percent, to $12.39 after reporting weaker sales. Sales of hardware for data centers, including servers and networking devices, did better.