NEW YORK — Stocks meandered to a mixed finish yesterday as higher oil prices pressured the market, but the Standard & Poor's 500 index neared a four-year high in a sign of Wall Street's underlying bullishness.

While there was little news to give the markets a clear direction, the stock market held on to the gains of the past three sessions, which saw the major indexes jump roughly 3 percent. Strong earnings from PepsiCo Inc. and others helped investors remain positive.

That helped Wall Street withstand another surge in crude futures. Oil prices rose above $60 per barrel as traders worried about another active hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico. A barrel of light crude was quoted at $60.62, up $1.70, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"On balance, things are going well, but the mood is still very, very guarded," Hugh Johnson, chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors, said of stocks. "Confidence in the market is improving, but it's improving in very small steps."

The S&P rose 2.77, or 0.23 percent, to 1,222.21, just 3 points shy of its four-year high of 1,225.31, reached March 7. The index briefly surpassed that level before edging back in the last hour of trading.

Bonds edged lower as stocks held on to their gains, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.14 percent from 4.10 percent late Monday. Much of the bond market's weakness was attributed to the dollar, which fell against most major currencies. Gold prices rose.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 9 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.99 billion shares, compared with 1.89 billion on Monday.