Wall Street recap

Stocks end mixed after investor optimism fades

NEW YORK Alate-day slump left stocks mixed yesterday as investors couldn't hold on to their optimism after the Federal Reserve gave an encouraging assessment of the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average, up more than 150 points after the Fed described the economy as showing more signs of recovery, closed up 30. The broader indexes were narrowly mixed. The Dow rose 30.23, or 0.3 percent, to 9,802.14. It had been up as much as 156 after the Fed announcement.

Stocks could get a lift today from Cisco Systems Inc., which reported better quarterly earnings and sales than expected after the closing bell.

Analysts couldn't point to any one reason why stocks gave up their gains late yesterday, although some said the market is increasingly nervous as tomorrow's release of the government's October jobs report approaches.

Financial stocks fell especially hard in the last hour of trading after a House vote to speed up the effective date of limits on credit-card companies, and added to the overall market's pullback.

The Fed, as expected, left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of essentially zero and said the economy is slowly rebounding.

Its announcement followed reports on service industries and employment that eased two of the biggest worries about the economy.