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KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 15 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,461 as of 10:32 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped one point, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,090. The Nasdaq composite rose two points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 5,050.

MIXED BAG: Five of the 10 industry sectors of the S&P 500 index fell, led by a 0.4 percent drop in financial stocks.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 47 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,445 as of 10:24 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose three points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,086. The Nasdaq composite fell two points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 5,031.

KEEPING SCORE: Europe started Friday on a positive note. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.2 percent to 6,579.68 and Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 11,031.37. France's CAC 40 added 0.1 percent to 4,990.99. Futures showed that Wall Street was set for a lackluster day. Dow futures fell 0.1 percent while S&P futures declined 0.2 percent.

Major U.S. indexes closed little changed from the day before. The Dow Jones industrial average had been down 277 points earlier Wednesday.

The Dow closed down just a fraction of a point to 17,402.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose almost two points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,086.

The Nasdaq composite wound up with a gain of seven points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,044.