NEW YORK, Sept 24 (AFP) - A modest stock rally attempt fizzled Friday, leaving the major indexes mixed, as a rise in crude oil futures to a record close dampened the impact of a generally positive durable goods report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a gain of 8.34 points (0.08 percent) to 10,047.24 and the Nasdaq composite fell 6.95 points (0.37 percent) to 1,879.48.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index edged up 1.75 points (0.16 percent) to 1,110.11.
Reaction was mainly positive to a report showing orders for US durable goods fell 0.5 percent in August. Excluding the 6.8 percent drop in orders for transportation goods, which are volatile, orders rose 2.3 percent, the biggest increase since March.
But a late spike in oil prices pushed the November contract to its highest closing level ever on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 42 cents to 48.88 dollars a barrel.
Meanwhile, Bob Dickey at RBC Dain Rauscher said the market appears to be entering a correction that could test recent lows.
"This is the statistical time of the year for a deeper correction," he said.
"For now, we watch the current pullback for signs of bottoming."
But Alfred Goldman at AG Edwards said he sees a positive move possible.
"A couple of strong positives loom ahead. November and December are two of the best months of the year and October is often a good month to be a buyer," Goldman said.
"Also, come November 3, we should have the presidential uncertainty out of the way. Next week brings the last four days of the quarter which tend to be up."
European stock markets edged mostly higher after a positive opening on Wall Street brightened investors' moods.
London's FTSE 100 index rose 0.21 percent to finish at 4,578.1, the Paris CAC 40 index added 0.56 percent to close at 3,673.51, while in Frankfurt the DAX advanced 0.12 percent to 3,910.3.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares nudged up 0.17 percent to 2,740.06.
On Wall Street, the semiconductor sector was mainly lower after a warning about weak chip sales from Dutch-based Philips Electronics.
Intel fell 25 cents to 20.13, Texas Instruments dropped 76 cents to 21.69 and National Semiconductor shed 67 cents to 15.01.
Elsewhere, shares of PeopleSoft rallied 74 cents to 19.99 on a Financial Times report that the European Commission is set to clear Oracle's hostile 7.7 billion dollars bid for its software rival. Oracle shares dipped a penny to 10.99.
Boeing was in focus after chief executive Harry Stonecipher said he believed the recovery in the aerospace sector would be less strong than that expected by rival Airbus. Boeing shares gained 14 cents to 53.14.
Bonds retreated. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond climbed to 4.031 percent from 4.028 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond rose to 4.811 percent against 4.799 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.