Caterpillar, one of the 30 blue chip stocks that comprise the Dow, unnerved investors who have bet that the slowing economy would pull off a soft landing rather than tip into recession.

"Caterpillar must have taken about 60 to 70 points off the Dow," said Stephen Carl, head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group.

It was optimism about the economy and rising hopes for strong third-quarter earnings that had lifted the Dow into uncharted territory this week. The blue chip index, reaching its first 1,000-point milestone in 7 1/2 years, traded past 12,000 for the first time Wednesday and had its first close above that mark yesterday.

The Dow closed down 9.36, or 0.08 percent, at 12,002.37.

Broader stock indicators showed modest gains after spending much of the session with losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 1.64, or 0.12 percent, at 1,368.60, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 1.36, or 0.06 percent, to 2,342.30 following a strong showing by Google Inc.

The Dow rose 0.35 percent for the week, while the S&P gained 0.22 percent and the Nasdaq fell 0.64 percent. The Dow had shown triple-digit point gains in each of the previous three weeks. Despite the overall gains in the market, the S&P stands about 10.4 percent below its high close of 1,527.46 and the Nasdaq is even further off, about 54 percent. All three indexes had peaked in early 2000 before plunging in response to the dot-com bust, recession and the aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks.

Bonds showed little movement today, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury flat with 4.79 percent from late yesterday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude settled down $1.68 at $56.82 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil fell to new lows for the year today amid skepticism about whether OPEC would fully implement a greater-than-expected production cut.

The disappointing earnings forecasts punctured some of the market's optimism about the economy; data indicated that the economy is gently moderating have contributed to a memorable first three weeks of October on Wall Street. Earlier this month, the Dow became the first of the market's big indexes to move past record levels set back in 2000, and it cemented that recovery with this week's move past 12,000. The Dow traded as high as 12,049.51, and set a new closing record of 12,011.73.

Joe Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co., contends that while earnings reports have been sound overall, companies are coming in with more guarded forecasts. He also is concerned that falling oil prices could indicate the economy is slowing too quickly.

"Caterpillar today was sort of a splash of cold water on the notion that this economy is in the perfect place and will continue to be in the perfect place," he said.

Caterpillar fell $10.02, or 14.5 percent, to $59 despite a 15 percent increase in its third-quarter profit. Though the company sold more construction and mining equipment, it warned increased operating costs and weaker-than-expected sales would cut into its full-year profits.

Google, the Internet search company, jumped $33.61, or 7.9 percent, to $459.67 after its profit nearly doubled and revenue surged 70 percent during the third quarter, which is traditionally slower as people spend less time in front of a computer during the summer months.

Investors heard from other Dow components today to cap off a busy week of earnings reports.

3M Co. rose $2.07, or 2.7 percent, to $78.47 after posting a 6.4 percent increase in its third-quarter profit amid renewed strength in its business of making films for LCD television and computer screens.

Drug maker Merck & Co. advanced $1.15, or 2.6 percent, to $45.64 after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue, though earnings were down 34 percent and sales were flat.

In other corporate news, SanDisk Corp., which makes flash memory chips, fell $12.58, or 20.4 percent, to $49.15 after reporting a 4 percent decline in its third-quarter profit and forecasting prices would fall by as much as 20 percent in the fourth quarter.

Arch Coal Inc. was down $2.22, or 6.5 percent, to $32.04 after the company lowered its full-year profit forecast because of weakness in the domestic market. The company also said its third-quarter profit nearly tripled as operating costs fell.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 2.57 billion shares, compared with 2.65 billion yesterday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 5.26, or 0.69 percent, to 762.13.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 0.61 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 0.01 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 0.41 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 0.29 percent.

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The Dow Jones industrials ended the week up 41.86, or 0.35 percent, to finish at 12,002.37. The S&P 500 index rose 2.98, or 0.22 percent, to 1,368.60.

The Nasdaq fell 14.99, or 0.64 percent, to end at 2,342.30.

The Russell 2000 index closed the week down 0.52, or 0.07 percent, at 762.13.