Rally Ends for Wall Street

Updated from 4:22 p.m. EST

Stocks in New York saw their short advance come to an end Thursday, the next-to-last trading day of 2006, as profit-takers decided to pocket some of their recent gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 9.05 points, or 0.07%, to 12,501.52. At their worst point of the session, the industrials had been down as many as 32 points. The S&P 500 lost 2.11 points, or 0.15%, to 1424.73, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 5.65 points, or 0.23%, at 2425.57.

On Wednesday, the Dow rallied for the second straight day and rose 102.94 points, or 0.8%, to 12,510.57, its best-ever close. The gains were driven by increases of more than 2% in Alcoa (AA Quote), Citigroup (C Quote) and General Motors (GM Quote).

In fact, the bulls had their way during the first two sessions of the holiday-shortened week, as the Dow picked up nearly 170 points, the S&P 16 points and Nasdaq about 30.

"Today we saw some back-and-fill movements after yesterday's run-up," said Paul Nolte, director of investments with Hinsdale Associates. "There looks to be a relatively soft landing with today's economic numbers, but that didn't sway anyone either way. Everyone looks to be squaring up the books before year end."

Volume remained light, with 1.54 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Decliners beat advances by a 9-to-7 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq was roughly 1.27 billion shares, and losers outpaced winners 3 to 2.