NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. blue-chip stocks struggled to advance Wednesday morning, with aerospace issues leading the way, although trading was light as religious holidays drew near.

At 11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 46.50 to 10,399.86, a day after snapping a four-session losing streak. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 3.25 to 1,820.92 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index added 3.26 to 1,141.75.

Among the Dow leaders were Boeing (BA: up $1.56 to $47.35, Research, Estimates) and United Technologies (UTX: up $1.30 to $73.30, Research, Estimates). Boeing announced it would team with rival Lockheed Martin in bidding for the Federal Aviation Administration's new automation modernization program.

Wednesday, like the rest of the holiday week, saw light trading volume. Passover begins after the closing bell, two days before Good Friday, when markets are shut altogether.

"It's been a pretty quiet week and I think it's going to stay that way," Bryan Piskorowski, market analyst at Prudential Financial, told CNNfn's Before Hours.

On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues topped declining ones 9-to-5 as 209 million shares traded. Nasdaq winners and losers were nearly even as 346 million shares changed hands.

Overseas, Europe's and Asia's stock markets edged higher. The dollar fell against the yen and rose versus the euro. Treasury securities rose.

New home sales rose 5.3 percent to an annual rate of 875,000 in February, the government said, slightly weaker than expected.

Other recent economic data on consumer confidence and durable goods orders has been strong. But stocks are little changed on the week ahead of a busy period for March quarterly result reports.

Amazon.com (AMZN: down $0.56 to $14.27, Research, Estimates) slipped after Lehman Brothers said the valuation of the online retailer's shares "looks rich." The company's shares are up more than 100 percent from their 52-week low of $5.51.

The Dow's biggest loser, Coca-Cola (KO: down $0.61 to $51.99, Research, Estimates), said late Tuesday it expected first-quarter worldwide volume to grow by 4 percent to 5 percent.

The Wall Street Journal said EMC (EMC: up $0.24 to $10.94, Research, Estimates) is considering additional job cuts a day after Ciena (CIEN: down $0.17 to $8.23, Research, Estimates), a fiber-optic networking equipment maker, announced it will cut 650 jobs, or 22 percent of its total work force.

The CEO of mobile phone maker Ericsson (ERICY: down $0.01 to $4.22, Research, Estimates) said he saw no signs of a turnaround in the company's business this year.

Fiber-optics communications firm Adelphia Business Solutions (ABIZ: down $0.03 to $0.06, Research, Estimates) said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming the decline in the telecommunications industry. Its parent, cable TV provider Adelphia Communications (ADLAC: up $1.66 to $22.05, Research, Estimates), has provided some financing for day-to-day operations.

Software maker Manugistics (MANU: up $1.72 to $19.95, Research, Estimates) lost less money in its fourth quarter than analysts expected. But Genzyme General (GENZ: down $3.89 to $44.90, Research, Estimates), a division of biotechnology firm Genzyme, warned that first-quarter profit will fall short of forecasts.

Nasdaq's biggest loser,Parametric Technology (PMTC: down $1.07 to $6.29, Research, Estimates), which makes design software, also cut profit guidance.

Stocks have made no real progress since the Federal Reserve last week signaled that the economy is recovering enough to raise interest rates sometime this year.

But in the bigger picture, the market has not seen sustained gains since 1999, the last winning year for the major indexes.

Wednesday marks the next-to-last trading day of the March quarter, which is expected to be the fifth straight period of profit declines. Both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are lower on the quarter, but the Dow industrials sport a gain.