Kansas City Southern, which rallied more than 6 percent Wednesday, had a bumpier ride Thursday.

Shares in the railroad company fell 97 cents, or about 1 percent. The company was boosted the previous day by at least one analyst report predicting stronger freight traffic ahead.

Other regional stocks that lost ground Thursday were Sprint, down 1 percent, Garmin, down 1 percent, and Compass Minerals, off 0.9 percent.

Most regional stocks finished the day lower although Ferrellgas and Great Plains Energy managed to close slightly higher.

Overall, an early rally has faded on Wall Street, pulling the Dow slightly lower and a bit further away from reaching a record.

The market was up for much of the day, then turned lower in the final minutes of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a loss of fell 20.88 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 14,054.49.

That's 110 points below the record close it reached in October 2007. It came within 15 points of that level during the day Thursday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index ended down 1.31 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 1,514.68.

The Nasdaq composite lost 2.07 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 3,160.19.

.The BATS 1000 fell 7.39 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 17,116.52.

Rising and falling stocks were about even on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was average, 3.7 billion shares.

Regional stocks

Capitol Federal Financial fell 5 cents, or 0.42%, to close at $11.83.

Cerner Corp. fell 24 cents, or 0.27%, to close at $87.46.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. rose 8 cents, or 0.21%, to close at $38.09.

Compass Minerals fell 63 cents, or 0.85%, to close at $73.72.

DST Systems Inc. fell 24 cents, or 0.35%, to close at $67.92.

Ferrellgas Partners L.P. rose 15 cents, or 0.73%, to close at $20.59.

Garmin Ltd. fell 32 cents, or 0.92%, to close at $34.36.

Great Plains Energy rose 14 cents, or 0.65%, to close at $21.83.

H&R Block Inc. fell 2 cents, or 0.08%, to close at $24.86.

Inergy L.P. fell 30 cents, or 1.48%, to close at $19.96.

Kansas City Life Insurance Co. fell 44 cents, or 1.17%, to close at $37.32.

Kansas City Southern fell 97 cents, or 0.93%, to close at $102.97.

Layne Christensen Co. fell 9 cents, or 0.41%, to close at $21.99.

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. fell 46 cents, or 0.45%, to close at $101.79.

Sprint Nextel Corp. fell 6 cents, or 1.02%, to close at $5.80.

UMB Financial Corp. fell 12 cents, or 0.26%, to close at $45.59.

Waddell & Reed Financial Corp. fell 12 cents, or 0.29%, to close at $41.02.

YRC Worldwide Inc. fell 1 cents, or 0.16%, to close at $6.13.