The major stock indicators managed gains for the day, and a modest advance for the week. But declining issues had a 2-to-1 lead over advancers on the New York Stock Exchange today, reflecting Wall Street’s general uneasiness about rising rates. The market’s nervousness was exacerbated by news of a surge in durable goods orders.

In addition to Microsoft, Corning Inc. posted a strong first quarter as did International Paper Co. and Weyerhaeuser Co., both bellwethers for the forestry products sector.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average edged up 11.64 or 0.1 percent, to close at 10,472.84 after rising nearly 144 yesterday as investors had a one-session reprieve from rate concerns.

The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index rose 16.86, or 0.8 percent, to 2,049.77, following its 1.9 percent surge yesterday.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up 0.67, or 0.1 percent, to 1,140.60.

The Nasdaq outperformed the other indexes for the week, rising 2.7 percent, while the Dow rose 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 picked up 0.5 percent.

Blue-chip stocks were lower for much of today as a report of strong durable goods orders in March fanned fears that the economy may be bouncing back fast enough for the Federal Reserve to begin raising rates from 45-year lows.

The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods rose by a robust 3.4 percent last month. The increase followed an even better 3.8 percent rise in February and surpassed the 0.7 percent rise expected by economists.

"We’re in a transition phase with this market," said Stuart Freeman, chief equity strategist for A.G. Edwards & Sons. "For the first year of recovery, good news has been nothing but good news because investors weren’t worried about the Fed raising rates. But when we get news like today ... it causes worry about when the Fed will come in to raise rates and by how much."

Investors have been skittish about higher rates for the past two weeks, particularly after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave two days of testimony in Congress this week that markets took to be a signal that interest rates could rise.

Other signs of economic strength such as jobs growth and higher consumer prices reinforced the concerns about higher rates, which could hurt stocks as well as bonds.

Tech stocks advanced today after Microsoft reported a big gain in revenues after the market close yesterday.