Stocks closed mixed in quiet preholiday trading

Stocks closed mixed Wednesday after a quiet day of trading before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.2 points, about 0.01 percent, at 17,813.4. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off less than a point at nearly 2,089. The Nasdaq composite index gained 13.3 points, about 0.3 percent, to 5,116.1.

ENERGY: About the same time, the price of the Jan. 16 contract for benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 10 cents to $42.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

THE ECONOMY: Consumer spending inched up 0.1 percent in October, the second small gain in a row. Despite weak spending in September and October, economists think spending will keep growing because the labor market is strong. Applications for unemployment aid fell last week, although the more stable four-week average was unchanged.