NEW YORK — Wall Street struggled through an indecisive session yesterday, finishing mixed as investors grappled with higher energy costs, the prospect of declining earnings growth and a slower economy.

Oil prices were volatile throughout the session, and investors remained jittery about the possibility of economic growth curtailed by high gasoline and heating oil prices. A barrel of light crude settled at $63.27, up 2 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling well below $63 per barrel during the day.

The Conference Board's latest reading of its index of leading economic indicators was somewhat encouraging with its prediction of modest economic growth. It posted a 0.1 percent increase in July, less than the 0.2 percent economists had estimated and a sharp drop from June's 1.2 percent hike.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.22, or 0.04 percent, to 10,554.93.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 1.22, or 0.1 percent, to 1,219.02, and the Nasdaq lost 9.07, or 0.42 percent, to 2,136.08.

The latest report on unemployment was disappointing, with the Labor Department reporting that the number of people making first-time unemployment claims rose to 316,000 last week, up from 310,000 the previous week and higher than economists expected.

Yet despite the growing impact of oil prices on consumer spending, many analysts were cheered by the market's relatively minor losses of late, noting that they came on light volume.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by nearly 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.86 billion shares, compared with 1.92 billion Wednesday. The Russell 2000 index fell 3.63, or 0.55 percent, to 651.19.