New Dow High on Hold

Updated from 4:22 p.m. EDT

After a week in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average threatened repeatedly to establish a new high, traders ultimately weren't quite ready to see history made.

The Dow entered the last session of the third quarter just 5 points from its best-ever finish, but when the closing bell rang Friday it had shed 39.38 points, or 0.34%, to go out at 11,679.07, leaving it roughly 44 points shy of the January 2000 top mark. The index ventured past 11,740, but the gains wouldn't hold.

Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist with Cantor Fitzgerald, believes that beating the Dow's record close "is nothing more than a psychological achievement. I don't think that it plays an important part in the overall market performance. Far more important is that volume eased considerably on the day after settlement-date trading completed."

As for the other major averages, the S&P 500 slipped 3.30 points, or 0.25%, to 1335.85, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 11.59 points, or 0.51%, to 2258.43.

"The window-dressing didn't push the market up as far as many expected," said Barry Hyman, equity market strategist with EKN Financial. "After floating around for a few days, we weren't able to notch the record. The market has taken on the perception of discounting too much too fast now, in terms of the economic contraction. If indeed we get a perfect landing, how much of it will be discounted?"