The Dow and the S&P 500 closed little changed on Thursday as a strong performance by IBM took the sting out of cautious outlooks from eBay and United Technologies, allowing investors to hold onto gains racked up in a huge rally the previous session.
International Business Machines Corp, a barometer of business spending, helped keep the Dow in the black after the technology services company raised its 2008 outlook late on Wednesday. IBM's stock rose 2.2 percent to $123.08. But the Nasdaq closed lower, hurt by eBay shares, which fell 3.5 percent after the company said the slowing economy was hurting its online auction business.
United Technologies, the world's largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, said it's cutting expenses to counter dimmer business prospects. Its shares fell 2.5 percent to $70.79. "You continue to have some mixed earnings and plenty of cross currents. In light of yesterday's rally, it's positive that we are flat, but there's not a lot of conviction," said David Katz, chief investment officer of Matrix Asset Advisors, in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average eked out a gain of 1.22 points, or 0.01 percent, to end at 12,620.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index crept up 0.85 of a point, or 0.06 percent, to close at 1,365.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index, meanwhile, fell 8.28 points, or 0.35 percent, to end at 2,341.83.
But the Nasdaq looked likely to get off to a stronger start on Friday, after Google Inc posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings after the closing bell. The Web search leader's shares jumped 18 percent to $530 in after-hours trading. Google closed on Nasdaq at $449.54, down 1.2 percent ahead of the results.
In Thursday's regular session, Pfizer shares were among the biggest drags on the Dow after the drug maker reported a larger-than-expected drop in quarterly profit. Pfizer dropped 3.3 percent to $20.40 on the New York Stock Exchange.
EBay slid to $31.01, a drop that ranked the stock among the Nasdaq's biggest drags, along with biotechnology company Gilead Sciences Inc, which fell 3.6 percent to $49.96.
Merrill Lynch & Co Inc was a bright spot. Merrill's stock rose 4.1 percent to $46.71 after the investment bank reported write-downs of $6.5 billion in subprime mortgages and other risky debt, which met analysts' expectations. Among Thursday's economic reports, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's index of business activity, which covers the Middle Atlantic states, recorded its worst performance in seven years.
Trading was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.23 billion shares changing hands, well below last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 1.85 billion shares traded, also short of last year's daily average of 2.17 billion. Advancing stocks were roughly equal to declining ones on the NYSE, while decliners beat advancers by a ratio of about 3 to 2 on Nasdaq.