NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks were little changed Friday after economic reports and merger-and-acquisition buzz failed to ignite investors' interest in the last session before a long holiday weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 6.17 to 10,883.27, Charts) and the broader S&P 500 index (up 0.54 to 1,268.66, Charts) straddled the breakeven line. The Nasdaq composite (up 2.93 to 2,249.42, Charts) gained over 0.1 percent.

The market snapped a four-day losing streak with gains Wednesday and Thursday in what investors hoped was the beginning of the traditional year-end rally for stocks after a generally sluggish December.

Some market watchers are saying the so-called "Santa Claus" rally may have come and gone with the market's solid gains in November.

But Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at S.W. Bach & Co., expects that some positive news from retailers "should propel the market higher" in the final four sessions of the year.

The Nasdaq was lower for the fourth-straight week. The Dow and S&P both ended higher for the second straight week. So far this year, the Dow is up about 1.0 percent and the S&P is up about 4.6 percent. The Nasdaq has gained about 3.3 percent year-to-date.

Pre-holiday trading was light, with some investors and traders taking the day off or leaving early before the long Christmas weekend. Financial markets are closed Monday in observance of the holiday.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by nearly two to one on volume of 940 million shares. On the Nasdaq advancers edged out decliners as 1 billion shares changed hands.

Treasury prices gained, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to about 4.38 percent. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar was mixed versus the euro and yen.

Light sweet crude for February delivery settled up 15 cents to $58.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold rose 20 cents to $505.20 an ounce after breaking back above $500 Thursday.

News that IBM (up $0.26 to $83.48, Research) landed a big outsourcing contract and reports that Boeing (up $0.17 to $71.49, Research) might be close to edging out European rival Airbus in a deal worth more than $10 billion with Singapore Airlines gave the blue-chip Dow average a boost.

Staar Surgical (up $2.74 to $8.51, Research) jumped 40 percent and was the top gainer on the Nasdaq after the developer of eye-care products won FDA approval of an implantable lens designed to correct nearsightedness in adults.

Wyeth (up $0.71 to $47.48, Research) and Progenics Pharmaceuticals (up $2.51 to $25.60, Research) signed a deal to develop and promote a drug, sending shares up 2 percent and 12 percent respectively.

Shares of Solectron (down $0.23 to $3.61, Research) tumbled almost 7 percent after the contract electronics manufacturer said first-quarter profit was cut in half as revenue fell and costs rose.

Meanwhile, Albertsons (down $2.74 to $20.54, Research), the nation's No. 2 grocery chain, confirmed earlier reports that it broke off talks to be bought by an investor group and other retailers for a price reported to be $9.6 billion, sending shares down 11.5 percent.

But technology stocks mostly dominated the day's mergers-and-acquisitions news.

Bain Capital, a private equity firm, is reportedly in discussions to buy a unit of Texas Instruments (up $0.21 to $32.93, Research), sending shares up almost 1 percent.

Online search company Mamma.com (up $0.55 to $2.75, Research) jumped 20 percent after the company agreed to buy privately-held Copernic Technologies.

And shares of Affiliated Computer Services (up $2.92 to $61.00, Research) rose nearly 5 percent after a report that three private-equity firms are in talks to buy the information-technology outsourcing company for $62 a share, or about $8 billion.

In economic news, sales of new homes fell 11.3 percent in November, the biggest decline in nearly 12 years, as the number of houses for sale hit a record high, the Commerce Department said.

Shares of housing stocks including D.R. Horton (down $0.64 to $36.21, Research) and Pulte Homes (down $0.75 to $40.75, Research) fell after the report. The Dow Jones Home Construction Index (down $11.29 to $936.70, Research), a barometer of home building stock activity, fell 1.4 percent.

Orders for durable goods surged a much larger-than-expected 4.4 percent in November on a jump in civilian aircraft but non-transportation orders slid as defense outlays tumbled, a government report showed Friday.

Consumer sentiment ended stronger in December and better than analysts' expectations, bolstered by falling energy prices, according to the University of Michigan's index.

Reports on consumer confidence, initial claims, Chicago PMI and existing home sales are all slated for next week.