Blue-chip issues struggled, but Wall Street stocks were mostly higher in quiet pre-holiday trading, bolstered by some encouraging economic news and a calm day on Asian markets. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 14.17 points to 7,794.78 after surrendering an early 37-point gain.

But broad-market indicators edged higher as trading slowed for the holiday. The stock market is closed today for Thanksgiving Day and there will be an abbreviated session tomorrow. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by seven-to-five on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,670 up, 1,209 down and 554 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 484.06 million shares, against 571.16 million in the previous session.

The Standard & Poor's 500stock list rose 0.82 to 951.64, the NYSE composite index rose 0.33 to 497.31, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 5.46 to 1,594.50.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.25 to 428.16.