Wall Street stumbled through a lopsided session today, closing mixed as profit warnings and news from blue chip names Alcoa and Boeing dragged down the Dow Jones industrial average but largely spared technology stocks.

Wall Street closed lower in profit-taking today after the previous session’s big gain, though the market held on reasonably well despite a surprising drop in consumer confidence and a disappointing forecast from Texas Instruments Inc.

Wall Street tussled again with interest rate concerns today, closing mixed as a solid earnings report from Microsoft lifted tech stocks but failed to spark broad-based buying in other sectors.

Wall street's Blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday underwent its first shake-up for almost four years, evicting three major US companies: AT&T, Eastman Kodak and International Paper.

A burst of merger activity sent US stocks higher today.

Wall Street ended an uninspiring earnings week with another lacklustre session today, as investors bought safer blue chips and once again shied away from tech stocks.

Share prices posted slight gains on light volumes in early trade, with a lot of the buying interest concentrated in a few well-known names, with many market players absent ahead of the Christmas holidays, dealers said.