Many investors will be happy to say adios to the miserable year -- a year that will be the worst for the Dow industrials since 1977.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 8.71 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 8,341.56, while the Nasdaq composite dipped 4.04 points, or 0.30 percent, to 1,335.50.

Larry Wachtel, senior vice president at Prudential Securities, said, "Is that all there is? That golden oldie kind of sums up 2002, a year that largely completed the task of taking the bubble out of the bull."

The year was marked by corporate scandals, corporate implosions and weak profits amid a sluggish economy.

The last time the Dow and S&P registered declines for four years running was from 1929 to 1932 -- starting with the two-day stock market crash in October 1929 that helped usher in the Great Depression. The Nasdaq market did not yet exist.

The broader New York Stock Exchange composite index gained 1.21 points, or 0.26 percent, to 472.77, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index nudged up 0.39 point to 0.04 percent. The American Stock Exchange composite index gained 3.59 points to 824.38, while the Wilshire 5000 Index rose 8.31 point to 8,341.81.

Big Board volume was at an estimated 1.07 billion shares, while Nasdaq volume reached 1.14 billion shares.

Stocks fell after the Conference Board reported consumer confidence in the nation's economy was torpedoed during December by the rising unemployment rate and the discouraging job outlook.

In the last economic update of the year, the Conference Board said its index measuring consumer confidence dropped 4.6 percentage points to 80.3 from 84.9 in November but remained just above its nine-year low of 79.6 set in October.

Economists on Wall Street were expecting confidence to inch up to 86 during the month.

Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said, "The major factor dampening consumers' spirits has been the rising unemployment rate and the discouraging job outlook. Weak retail sales over the holidays clearly reflect the current mood of consumers. Until there is an improvement in labor market conditions, there is not likely to be a significant upturn in consumer confidence."

Meanwhile, a pair of retail sales reports gave a clearer picture of what has been called a checkered last-minute holiday shopping period and offered a mixed message, giving investors little incentive to put fresh money to work.

Redbook Research's latest indicator of national retail sales revealed a solid boost to sales last week after Christmas; however, the month of December still remains below target.

The survey of weekly retail sales showed sales up 0.7 percent in the fourth week of December compared with the same period in November. The report also showed seasonally adjusted sales in the four-week period up 1.3 percent from the same period in 2001, compared with a target of 2.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi-UBS Warburg weekly chain-store sales index showed chain-store sales increased in the week ending Dec. 28. Sales rose 2.1 percent from the week before, on a seasonally adjusted comparable store basis, the report said. A week earlier, sales were up 0.1 percent, after having risen 1.9 percent the prior week.

The BTM/UBSW Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot is compiled from seven major discount, department and chain stores across the country that report their weekly results. The BTM/UBSW index measures sales growth with the year 1977 equaling 100.

Separately, retailer Target said its sales in stores open a year or more were well above plan last week, but growth remains far below its goal of 3 percent to 5 percent for December.

And, Merrill Lynch delivered a bearish note on retailers, saying it believes that the crucial December holiday sales were weak and that it expects sales and profit warnings coming from the broadline retail group over the next coming weeks.

Analysts said window-dressing, or last-minute trading done by investors to adjust their portfolios just before the end of the quarter, could play a role in the final hours of 2002 trading. Money managers often scurry to make their year-end results as shiny as possible.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury prices pushed lower. The 10-year bond fell 5/32 to 101 16/32. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction of its price, rose to 3.81 percent from 3.79 percent late Monday.

In Europe, stock prices ended the last trading session of the year in London and Paris in positive territory, buoyed by a reversal of fortunes in the oil sector.

The London International Stock Exchange's blue-chip FTSE-100 index rose 39.80 points, or 1 percent, to 3,940.4, just shy of its 3,949.1 session high, and well above an earlier low of 3,890.7.

Despite the gain, the market ended a tough year with the FTSE-100 nursing its biggest loss in its 17-year history in percentage terms.

The FTSE-100 blue chip index slumped 24.5 percent from the start of the year and was down 43 percent from its all-time high seen in December 1999. The slide marked the third annual loss for the benchmark index.

Meanwhile, prices also ended higher in Paris with little to inspire investors on the last session of the year. The French CAC-40 index rose 38.77 points, or 1.28 percent, to 3,063.91 in a market virtually halted by the absence of investors ahead of the New Year's Eve celebrations.

Markets in Germany were closed for an extended holiday. Frankfurt's Xetra DAX index closed Monday with a rise of 1.9 percent on the day to 2,892.63, bringing the index's full-year decline to 44 percent.

Earlier in Asia, prices on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ended slightly higher in an abbreviated pre-holiday session as investors wrapped up a gloomy year that saw blue chips drop 18 percent.

The blue-chip Hang Seng Index, which dropped 172.93 points during the previous session, added 48.96 points, or 0.5 percent, to 9,321.29 -- its lowest end-of-year finish since the index rang out 1995 at 7342.65.

The index fell more than 18 percent for the year, the third straight year of losses and the Hang Seng's longest losing streak on record.

Despite economic worries that pushed prices lower over the past year, investors were cheered by modest gains in most overseas markets and lower oil prices.

Analysts said stocks ended higher on a technical rebound in the half-day session, but volumes were light as most investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the New Year holiday.

Prices ended slightly lower on the Taiwan Stock Exchange as many cautious investors also waited for the New Year.

The Weighted Price Index, which lost 89.57 points Monday, slipped 5.30 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,452.45, ending a volatile 2002 during which the market lost 20 percent of its value as the island's economy struggled to recover.

Elsewhere around the Pacific region, prices ended higher on the Australian Stock Exchange. The blue-chip All Ordinaries Index, which lost 30.90 points during the previous session, rose 15.00 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,975.50, but dropped 12.1 percent in 2002, the market's first losing year since 1994.

Meanwhile, markets in Japan were closed and will reopen on Monday, Jan. 6 with the blue-chip Nikkei Stock Average hovering at 8,578.95 -- its lowest year-end close since 1982. For the year the Nikkei lost 18.6 percent of its value.

South Korea's stock market was also closed for an extended holiday. Trading will resume on Thursday with the Korean Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, at 627.55.