NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks closed little changed Thursday, mostly recovering from earlier losses as investors took in a disparate mix of earnings news out of the aerospace, chip and wireless sectors, leaving no consensus as to the health of corporate profits in the just-completed March quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 15.50 to 10,205.28; the index was down as much as 163 points around midday following news that a plane crashed into a building in Italy, but recovered after Italy's interior minister said the crash was probably an accident.

The Nasdaq composite gave back 8.24 to 1,802.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.60 to 1,124.47.

After the close of trade, No. 1 computer software maker Microsoft (MSFT: down $0.26 to $56.37, Research, Estimates) reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of 49 cents a share, better than the 44 cents per share earned one year earlier, but lower than the 51 cents per share analysts were looking for. The company also warned that fiscal fourth-quarter results will miss current expectations.

Shares of the stock lost $4 in after-hours trade Thursday. The stock trades on the Dow, the New York Stock Exchange and the Standard & Poor's 500 and is expected to influence stock action Friday.

"This is not a big miss in percentage terms, but it is one of the biggest names on the Street, so I am worried about what it's going to do tomorrow [Friday]," John Pickett, specialist at LaBranche & Co., told CNNfn's Street Sweep.

Also after the bell, Sun Microsystems (SUNW: up $0.29 to $8.52, Research, Estimates), the largest maker of Unix servers, reported a narrower-than-expected loss on sales that declined from the same period one year earlier.

Markets were lower through most of Thursday's trade, but managed to erase most of their losses by the close.

The Dow got a little late-day boost following strong earnings news out of component American Express (AXP: up $1.24 to $42.39, Research, Estimates). The financial services company reported a first-quarter profit that beat analysts' expectations and improved from the same period a year earlier.

But weakness in Honeywell International following its earnings report and continued selling in Boeing after its Wednesday profit report hurt the Dow. Countering the losses were gains in IBM, following some positive forward-looking statements.

The Nasdaq was lower due to wireless stocks after Nokia issued a negative outlook, and selling in chip names following reports out of KLA-Tencor and Advanced Micro Devices.

"Earnings news is the name of the game," said Michael Carty, principal with New Millennium Advisors. "This is the first week of the really intense reports. Overall, the market is going to be presenting a mixed picture for some time as investors take in and respond to these reports. We're seeing that today [Thursday]."

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners edged advancers as 1.35 billion shares traded. On the Nasdaq, winners led losers as 1.82 billion shares changed hands.

Aerospace parts maker Honeywell International (HON: down $2.16 to $38.30, Research, Estimates), which reported lower first-quarter earnings in line with estimates, said it was interested in pursuing several acquisition opportunities and was reportedly responsible for more in asbestos claims than it previously stated. Boeing (BA: down $1.67 to $43.70, Research, Estimates), which hurt the Dow on Wednesday with its lower-than-expected earnings, and United Technologies (UTX: down $2.55 to $67.25, Research, Estimates) also declined.

"It's continued fallout from Boeing's earnings release and comments coming out of the conference calls for both Boeing and Honeywell," said Christopher Mecray, an aerospace and defense analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities. "People are beginning to realize that these companies are expensive relative to earnings."

Giving the Dow and the tech sector some strength was IBM (IBM: up $4.14 to $88.95, Research, Estimates). The computer hardware maker reported lower first-quarter earnings late Wednesday that met reduced estimates and said the company should be able to meet Wall Street targets for the remainder of the year.

Shares of fast-food retailer and Dow component McDonald's (MCD: up $1.46 to $28.62, Research, Estimates) and data storage maker EMC (EMC: up $0.60 to $11.00, Research, Estimates) both rose after the companies' results topped expectations.

Wireless stocks were weaker after Finnish cell phone maker Nokia (NOK: down $2.53 to $18.10, Research, Estimates) warned that 2002 sales will miss estimates due to continued poor demand for handsets and networks. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: down $2.22 to $12.60, Research, Estimates) and chip-making equipment maker KLA-Tencor (KLAC: down $3.05 to $65.61, Research, Estimates) both were lower after the companies warned that June-quarter revenue growth would be smaller than expected.

Treasurys were a little higher by the close, with the 10-year note yield at 5.21 percent.

Markets in Europe were mixed by the close, while Asian markets closed higher. The dollar was weaker against the yen and little changed versus the euro. Light crude oil futures rose 13 cents to $26.28 a barrel in New York.

In the day's economic news, the number of new claims for jobless benefits rose slightly last week to 445,000 from a revised 444,000 the previous week, reflecting the continued pressure on the labor market.

The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators, a measure of 10 forward-looking indicators, rose less than expected. The index was up 0.1 percent in March, when analysts were expecting a gain of 0.3 percent, compared with an unchanged result in February.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's April index of regional business conditions rose to 12.3, weaker than expected, from 11.4 in March, a sign that the economic recovery may be sluggish.