Dow slips 16.45

NEW YORK -- Stocks edged lower today as the sluggish, indecisive tone of recent months quickly returned to the market after this week's huge gyrations.

In a sharp contrast to Monday's 207-point tumble and yesterday's 164-point rebound, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 16.45 points to close at 8,813.01, never straying as much as 40 points in either direction all day.

Decliners led advancers by a 7-to-4 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,078 up, 1,900 down and 545 unchanged. NYSE volume was 589.64 million shares, down sharply from yesterday's hectic pace of 721.10 million.

Broader indicators also posted small losses despite a strong day in Asia, where stocks rallied sharply following yesterday's move by the Federal Reserve to bolster the sagging Japanese yen.

The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.73 to 1,106.37 after surging 19 points yesterday, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 3.70 to 1,772.70 after tacking on 60 points over the prior two session. The NYSE composite index fell 1.16 to 567.49, and the American Stock Exchange composite index lost 3.93 to 691.34. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 4.30 to 439.78.

The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 23/32 point, or $7.19 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield dropped to 5.70 percent from 5.74 percent late yesterday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

For the first time since 1992, the U.S. central bank sold dollars for yen in the currency market, helping the Japanese currency reverse its slide to an 8-year low.

Tokyo's Nikkei stock average rose 4.4 percent today.