NEW YORK » Wall Street received the interest rate cut it wanted, but still turned in a baffling late-day performance yesterday, shooting higher and then skidding lower in the very last minutes of trading as some investors rushed to cash in profits after the previous session's big advance.

The major indexes ended the day mixed, with the Dow Jones industrials falling 74 points - only the third time in October that the blue chips had just a double-digit close.

Analysts were divided over why the market turned around so abruptly. Some cited reports of a lackluster profit forecast at General Electric Co. - a Dow component that dropped nearly 4 percent from its late-session high - and others contended investors were simply looking to cash in gains after the Federal Reserve's decision to lower its fed funds rate by a half-point to 1 percent.

“;It was a panic sell in the last two minutes,”; said Dave Rovelli, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Canaccord Adams in New York, referring to reports that GE was aiming at 2009 profits to be little changed from 2008.

The central bank yesterday reduced its target for the federal funds rate, the interest banks charge on overnight loans, to 1 percent, a low last seen in 2003-2004. The funds rate has not been lower since 1958, when Dwight Eisenhower was president.

The Dow was up as much as 298 points in the last quarter hour of the session, giving it a two-day gain of more than 1,187 points, when it began to slide. It closed down 74.16, or 0.82 percent, at 8,990.96.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The S&P 500 index fell 10.42, or 1.11 percent, to 930.09, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 7.74, or 0.47 percent, to 1,657.21.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume totaled 7.01 billion shares compared with 6.93 billion shares traded Tuesday.

The credit markets had a lukewarm response to the Fed move. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill, regarded as the safest investment around and an indicator of investor sentiment, fell to 0.55 percent from 0.74 percent Tuesday. A drop in yield indicates an increase in demand. Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.86 percent from 3.84 percent late Tuesday.

Light, sweet crude rose $4.77 to settle at $67.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the dollar fell against other major currencies. With many commodities priced in dollars a weaker greenback makes prices rise.

Investors are hoping the latest rate cut will complement the government's still-unfolding efforts to aid the commercial paper market, where companies turn for short-term loans, and the banks themselves.

The U.S. Treasury Department this week is investing directly in banks, hoping the cash will make them more likely to issue loans.