A neutral finish on Wall Street after previous session’s rally (Reuters) (18-04-2008)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - There was little change for the Dow and the S&P 500 on Thursday as investors to held onto gains achieved in the previous session’s rally, largely helped by IBM Corp, which raised its 2008 outlook late on Wednesday. IBM's stock rose 2.2 percent to $123.08.

The Dow Jones industrial average was just inside positive ground up 1.22 points, or 0.01 percent, to end at 12,620.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index crept up 0.85 of a point, or 0.06 percent, to close at 1,365.56.

The NASDAQ Composite Index, meanwhile, fell 8.28 points, or 0.35 percent, to end at 2,341.83 hurt by eBay shares, which fell 3.5 percent after the company said the slowing economy was hurting its online auction business. It looks likely to get off to a stronger start on Friday, after Google Inc posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings after the closing bell.

Among Thursday's economic reports, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's index of business activity, which covers the Middle Atlantic states, recorded its worst performance in seven years.

Trading was moderate on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.23 billion shares changing hands, well below last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 1.85 billion shares traded, also short of last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.

Advancing stocks were roughly equal to declining ones on the NYSE, while decliners beat advancers by a ratio of about 3 to 2 on Nasdaq.

Source Reuters