NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks ended lower Thursday as investors turned their attention to the upcoming "quadruple witching" options and futures expirations.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) lost 0.02 percent, after having risen about 0.3 percent early in the session.

The broader S&P 500 (Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (Charts) fell 0.14 and 0.09 percent, respectively.

"The market is struggling with the options expirations, which is why we have this pullback," Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at S.W. Bach & Co. said, referring to Friday's expiration of stock index futures and options and individual stock futures and options, which occurs once a quarter.

The so-called quadruple witching expirations can lead to increased volatility in the underlying stocks as well as higher trading volume.

As of 5:30 p.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures pointed to a higher open Friday when fair value is taken into account.

After the bell, software maker Oracle (Research) posted a lower second-quarter profit as a rise in amortization expenses offset higher revenue. Shares fell nearly 4 percent on the Inet electronic brokerage system. (Full story.)

Darden Restaurants (Research) rose 5 percent in after-hours trade after the parent of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains reported a better-than-expected rise in second-quarter earnings.

Shares of Dow component Altria Group (up $2.89 to $76.62, Research) hit a 52-week high during the session and ended up 4 percent after the Illinois high court reversed a $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris USA, with instructions to dismiss the class-action lawsuit. (Full story.)

Merck (up $0.57 to $29.77, Research) stock rose nearly 2 percent after the drug giant announced another $1 billion worth of projected cuts to its multibillion dollar plan to slash costs through 2010.

Amgen (up $3.66 to $80.44, Research) jumped over 4 percent after its announcement that it agreed to buy Abgenix (Research) for about $2.2 billion in cash, about a 54 percent premium from its closing price. Shares of Abgenix soared nearly 50 percent.

But Procter & Gamble (Research), the Dow's biggest loser, fell over 1 percent after hitting an all-time high in the previous session.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq took a hit after software maker Symantec (Research) said it will correct errors in its most recent cash flow statement, sending shares down 2.5 percent.

Shares of Charles Schwab (Research) also lost more than 1 percent after the discount stock broker said it was moving its listing to the Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange.

In earnings news, Pier 1 (Research) Imports posted a third-quarter loss and said it probably would miss its December sales forecast. Shares of the home furnishings retailer plummeted 14 percent.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs (Research) said fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 37 percent but fell short of the average Wall Street forecast. Its stock retreated about 1 percent.

On the upside, Bear Stearns (Research) reported fourth-quarter earnings increased 15 percent, beating estimates, on strength in its fixed-income and equity operations, and shares jumped 5.5 percent.

And, home builder Lennar (Research) posted a 55 percent boost in fourth-quarter profit, sending its stock up 3.5 percent.

Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery fell 86 cents to $59.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Treasury prices fell slightly, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.46 percent from 4.44 percent late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar was mixed versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold for February delivery fell $2.90 to $506.60 an ounce.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners nearly two to one on volume of 1.61 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat out advancers three to two as 1.82 billion shares changed hands.

On the economic front, a drop in gasoline prices led to the largest overall decline in prices in 56 years in November, according to the government's key inflation measure released early Thursday, which showed inflationary pressure far less than Wall Street expectations.

The Consumer Price Index fell 0.6 percent in November, the biggest drop since July 1949. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a decline of 0.4 percent. Energy prices plunged 8 percent in the month, led by a 16 percent drop in gasoline prices.

But the so-called "core CPI," which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent, the same gain as seen in October.

Wall Street got another report showing a decline in inflation when the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its prices-paid index, which measures prices paid by manufacturers, fell to 49 in December from 56.8 in November.

The Philly Fed's overall business conditions index also showed factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region improved slightly in December but new orders slipped. The regional survey is often used to gauge the overall state of factories nationwide.

In other economic news, the number of workers filing initial claims for jobless benefits edged up and industrial output rose 0.7 percent in November, just above economists' average forecasts.

No major economic reports are scheduled for Friday.