Stock prices failed to rebound on Wall Street yesterday as investors concerned about third-quarter results again punished the shares of poor performers.

But the decline could have been much worse. Bargain-hunting in the last hour of trading helped battered issues stage a mild recovery, allowing the Dow Jones industrial average to almost break even and limiting the size of the Nasdaq composite index's drop.

The Dow closed down 2.96 at 10,628.36, after dropping as much as 40 points during the day. It fell 176 points on Tuesday.

The Nasdaq dropped 32.80 to 3,656.30, after spiking into positive territory earlier in the day. The Standard and Poor's 500 index fell 0.64 to 1,426.57.