A second day of profit-taking weighed down the blue-chip sector, but stocks were mostly higher in New York yesterday after a report showing that the economy's growth still has not aggravated inflationary pressures.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 57 points to 8,602 after surrendering an early 39-point gain that put the blue-chip index within two points of its first trip above 8,700.

The Standard and Poor's 500 also pulled back, halting a three-session streak of record highs. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index, knocked lower by a spate of profit warnings by leading computer-related names, flirted with a new high for the first time in two weeks, but came up short.