According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 24.96, or 0.2 percent, to 10,425.04, trimming the year’s gain to 25 percent. Yesterday, the barometer of 30 blue-chip companies gained 125 points for its highest finish since March 2002.

Broader-market measures turned higher during the final half hour after trading lower most of the day. Trading was light, with the vacation-thinned ranks of investors finding little news to steer the market other than two mildly discouraging reports on the economic front.

"The year ended yesterday — two days ahead of schedule," said Stuart Schweitzer, Global Markets Strategist for JPMorgan Private Bank. "We’re treading water. That’s all we’ve done today, and probably that’s what tomorrow will bring."

The Nasdaq composite index rose 3.40, or 0.2 percent, to close at 2,009.88, stretching this year’s gain to 50.5 percent. The index rose 33 points yesterday to close above 2,000 for the first time since Jan. 15, 2002.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.16, or 0.01 percent, to 1,109.64, up 26.1 percent for 2003.

In economic news, the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slipped in December amid persistent anxiety about the job market. After surging in November to its highest level in more than a year, a pullback in the index had been expected. But the numbers released today were below expectations.

Separately, the National Association of Realtors reported sales of previously owned homes declined by 4.6 percent in November. Still, the level of overall sales was strong enough to be the fifth best month on record, a sign that the housing market remains in good shape.

Economically sensitive issues led the Dow’s decline: United Technologies Corp. fell 94 cents at $94.60, Alcoa Inc. fell 80 cents to $38.11, and International Business Machines Corp. fell 89 cents to $92.63, and Caterpillar Inc. fell 53 cents to $84.07.

Elsewhere in the Dow, Boeing Co. rose 28 cents to $42.28 amid news that the Navy has awarded the company a roughly $9.6 billion contract to supply 210 more F/A-18 Super Hornets jet fighters and to design the EA-18G airborne electronic attack aircraft.

FedEx Corp. fell 94 cents to $69.00 after the shipping company agreed to buy business services provider Kinko’s for $2.4 billion in cash from buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc.

ChromaVision Medical Systems Inc. tripled, rising $2.69 to $3.92, after the Food and Drug Administration cleared the company to market its main product for breast cancer screening. Safeguard Scientifics, which owned about 60 percent of ChromaVision’s outstanding shares as of a November filing, rose 48 cents to $4.18.

Yesterday, stocks rose as concerns eased about potential economic damage from mad cow disease and the market drew a lift from early indications that the holiday shopping season had gone well, including a report from MasterCard that consumer spending was up 6.5 percent.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, while decliners held a narrow lead on the Nasdaq market. Volume came to 974.15 million shares, compared with 1.05 billion yesterday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.59, or 0.3 percent, to 565.47.