Major Averages Close 3rd Straight Year Of Declines.(B)

Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG

The major indexes closed mixed Tuesday, but joined in unison to mark a rare third straight year of declines.

After disappointing holiday sales depressed the market last week, another poor economic report set the market's early tone. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dipped to 80.3 last month from November's revised figure of 84.9. Economists had expected a rise to 85.5, Reuters reported. Officials said the sharp drop was caused mainly by worries over higher unemployment. The jobless rate jumped to 6% in December.

(Incidentally, the confidence index is down sharply from the lofty 140 readings seen in early 2000, just when the tech market was showing signs of peaking. But it's also still sharply above the sub-60 levels seen in early 1982, 1991 and 1992 -- about the same time that new bull rallies got going. Could this economic gauge someday prove to be a timely contrarian market indicator again?)

The Nasdaq fell nearly 1% in the early going, but at about 11 a.m. Eastern time it rallied into positive ground. However, sellers regained control and the Nasdaq ended with a 0.3% loss, its fifth straight down session. The Nasdaq 100 eased 0.6%. Big losers included Electronic Arts, which caved 1.21 to 49.77 to notch a 52-week low. Microsoft, which alone makes up more than 11% of the Nasdaq's moves (1), slipped 1.05 to 51.70, closing below its 200-day moving average.

The S&P 500 and the Dow were both down as much as 1.1%, but fought their way to edge barely higher.

The Nasdaq closed down 31.5% for the year, following declines of 39.3% in 2000 and 21.1% in 2001. It's the first time since the Nasdaq's launch in ...