Stocks fell yesterday in light trading volume but rose for the week as investors pocketed gains from a week-long upward trend amid a new sign that a corporate profit revival will be delayed until next year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38.40 points, or 0.36 percent, to 10,512.78, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 21.05 points to 2,066.33. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 6.39 points to 1,214.36.

For the week, the Dow gained 0.9 percent, the Nasdaq was up 1.8 percent, and the S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent. Year-to-date, the Dow is down 2.5 percent, Nasdaq is 16.4 percent lower and the S&P 500 is off 8 per cent.

Fallout from the lagging economy has forced analysts to chop Corporate America's profit outlook. Wall Street now expects companies to post flat earnings in the fourth quarter - a far cry from the 12.6 per cent growth forecast four months ago, according to research firm Thomson Financial/First Call.