Wall Street stocks flirted with new highs for the first time since early October, then gave back most of the session's gains as investors took a defensive stance before economic data due today. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 18.15 up at 8050.16 but only after surrendering a midday gain of 81 points and briefly dipping into negative territory.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a seven-to-six margin on the NYSE, with 1,582 up, 1,357 down and 524 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 632.15 million shares, edging Wednesday's hefty tally of 623.45 million.

The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 0.72 to 509.43 after creeping within one point of record territory.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 1.70 to 1,613.43, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 3.30 to 665.80, but the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.10 to 434.91.