NEW YORK (January 28, 2013)--U.S. stocks meandered between small gains and losses Monday, but then cooled off after a rally that pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 index above 1,500 for the first time since December 2007.

Encouraging news about manufacturing provided an early boost, but stocks fell later after a report on the pace of home sales fell short of expectations.

The Dow fell 14 points to close at 13,881 Monday.

The S&P 500 fell 2 points to end the day at 1,500.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 4 to end at 3,154.

Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar said its fourth-quarter net income exceeded analysts' expectations and ended trading up $1.87 at $97.45.

Declining stocks marginally outpaced advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange where volume was average at 3.3 billion shares.