The Dow dropped 21.27 points to close at 6,658.60, having retreated from a 33-point gain that would have put the blue-chip barometer above 6,700 for the first time in three weeks.

Advancers led decliners by a narrow margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,283 up, 1,211 down and 809 unchanged. NYSE volume was 502.81 million shares vs. 498.82 million yesterday.

Broad-market indicators were mixed. The struggling Nasdaq market posted the biggest gains amid some bargain hunting among depressed technology shares. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list fell 1.76 to 761.77, and the NYSE's composite fell 1.10 to 400.65. The Nasdaq index rose 6.79 to 1,217.06, and the American Stock Exchange index fell 0.99 to 555.52.

Stocks drew some early support from the bond market, where interest rates continued to ease lower after jumping toward another nine-month high on yesterday morning. As bond prices rose today, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond -- a key determinant of borrowing costs -- fell as low as 7.03 percent, down from late yesterday's 7.09 percent, before settling at 7.06 percent.

Bonds rose this morning after the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000 last week to 332,000, the highest level since late January. But the four-week average for first-time claims -- a less-volatile measure -- continued to hover near its lowest levels of the 1990s.