Stocks finish down as rally dies

NEW YORK -- Stocks are finishing mostly lower as investors balked at extending the market's recent rally.

Trading was quiet, as it has been all week, as summer vacations kept many traders out of the market. With fewer participants, the market has lost some of its recent momentum that sent the major indexes up about 5 percent in less than two weeks.

Stocks got an initial boost after Intel raised its sales forecast for the current quarter, but the news wasn't enough to keep the entire market afloat.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow is down 36 at 9,544. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 2 at 1,028, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 1 to 2,028.

Declining stocks are about even with advancers on the New York Stock Exchange.