NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Blue-chips stocks dipped Thursday, retreating a bit from four-month highs hit in the previous session.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 15.93 to 11,527.39, Charts) and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (down 1.79 to 1,316.28, Charts) index both lost a few points, according to early tallies.

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The Nasdaq composite (up 1.06 to 2,228.73, Charts) ended just above unchanged.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the corresponding yields and the dollar weakened against other major currencies.

Oil and gold prices slipped.

Here's a look at what was influencing trade near the close.

The recent rally left the major market gauges at four-month highs by the end of Wednesday's session. That advance left the Dow about 180 points from its record high of 11,722.98, hit on Jan. 14, 2000.

After such a run, stocks were a bit vulnerable Thursday, particularly amid a lackluster morning read on August retail sales and some jitters ahead of the release of Friday's consumer price index (CPI).

"The market has responded favorably to good news over the lasts few days and today the news was unimpressive, so there's not much of a move," said Allen Gayle, senior investment strategist at Trusco Capital Management.

Investors were also perhaps wary to commit much ahead of Friday's CPI report, particularly in the lead-up to next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting.

Should Friday's inflation number show a bigger gain that expected, investors may take a knee-jerk reaction, Gayle said. However, he pointed out that any such reaction would likely be short lived, with investors aware that the index won't reflect the recent pullback in energy prices.

"I think the market is looking to next month when the impact of lower oil and lower gas prices will hit the statistics," Gayle said.

Retail sales rose just 0.2 percent last month after jumping 1.4 percent in July, the government reported, as higher oil and gas prices and increased worries about the economy during the month cut into consumer spending.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought sales would fall 0.2 percent.

Sales excluding autos rose 0.2 percent in the month, after rising 1 percent in July. That was short of forecasts for a rise of 0.3 percent.

"I think the report is consistent with a moderate trend for consumer spending growth," said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. "July numbers were inflated by auto sales, so this number gets us closer to the broader trend."

He said that the reaction in both stock and bond markets Thursday was muted because the report doesn't shake up expectations about the economy. It also doesn't change bets that the Federal Reserve won't have to restart its rate-hiking campaign anytime soon.

Dow Components Boeing (down $1.31 to $75.01, Charts) and General Electric (down $0.06 to $34.78, Charts) both slipped after they were downgraded by UBS.

The brokerage lowered Boeing to "reduce" from "buy" on worries about how an economic slowdown will impact its orders. UBS cut GE to "neutral" from "buy," on concerns about slowing earnings at its NBC television network, higher tax rates and an eventual slowdown in aerospace orders.

Separately, GE said it was selling its advanced materials unit to private equity firm Apollo Management for $3.8 billion.

Other Dow decliners included Home Depot (up $0.05 to $37.22, Charts) and Honeywell (down $0.23 to $39.03, Charts), two of the economically sensitive issues that had risen most during the recent rally.

However, a number of Dow stocks gained, giving the blue-chip barometer some stability.

Component Microsoft (up $0.35 to $26.33, Charts) gained after it said it will debut "Zune," a rival for Apple (down $0.03 to $74.17, Charts)'s iPod.

DuPont (up $0.93 to $41.43, Charts) and AT&T (up $0.39 to $32.25, Charts) also rose.

The United Auto Workers union said Ford Motor (down $0.10 to $9.09, Charts) will offer all 75,000 of its workers buyouts.

The news follows an earlier report from Ford that it will announce the details of its restructuring plan Friday morning. That report followed a Detroit News story that said overall losses in 2006 could total $9 billion.

Ford shares fell about 1 percent, recovering from steeper morning losses. (Is Ford a "buy"? click here)

Bear Stearns (up $3.46 to $139.68, Charts) reported higher quarterly earnings that rose from a year ago and topped estimates. After stalling in the morning, the stock moved higher in the afternoon.

XM Satellite Radio (up $1.18 to $13.69, Charts) jumped 8 percent in active Nasdaq trade after Credit Suisse First Boston upgraded it to "outperform" from "neutral," saying the company's recent lowering of its subscriber growth outlook makes its goals more realistic.

A big decline in oil prices sent oil stocks lower, with the Amex Oil (down 20.16 to 1,054.00, Charts) index losing 1.4 percent.

A slump in gold prices weighed on gold stocks, sending the Amex Gold Bugs (down $13.50 to $298.76, Charts) index down 4.3 percent.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners 5 to 3 on volume of 1.26 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers 3 to 2 on volume of 1.65 billion shares.

U.S. light crude oil for October delivery fell 75 cents to $63.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for December delivery fell $10.30 to $586 an ounce.

Treasury prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note to 4.79 percent from roughly 4.76 percent late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

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