Stocks fluctuate following durable goods data
NEW YORK -- Stocks drifted in and out of positive territory Wednesday as a rebound in oil prices sapped an early rally brought by an upbeat durable goods orders report.
Oil prices remained the focus on Wall Street after a week in which stocks prices have tumbled, rallied and then stalled in response to crude's moves.
Crude's recovery from its lows Wednesday ate into some of the enthusiasm over the Commerce Department's report that orders for durable goods -- which include aircraft and machinery but also consumer items like cars, refrigerators and computers -- slipped 0.5%. Wall Street had expected a steeper decline. Excluding transportation, orders rose 2.5% -- the sharpest increase in nine months. And orders for electrical equipment and appliances jumped 27.8%, the largest-ever increase.
Oil's comeback touched off renewed worries that high energy prices will hurt businesses and their customers. Hesitation among shoppers isn't what Wall Street wants as consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
"It seems that the good news is really being kind of overshadowed by high oil prices," said Richard Sparks, a senior equity analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati. "The fear is that higher oil prices might drive us into that recessionary area."
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.20, or 0.02%, to 12,550.55. The blue chips had been up more than 50 points early in the session.
Broader stock indicators declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 1.51, or 0.11%, to 1,383.84, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 7.36, or 0.30%, to 2,473.88.
Advancing issues narrowly outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 520.2 million shares.
Bond prices fell following the durable goods report. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, jumped to 4.02% from 3.92% late Tuesday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Light, sweet crude rose $1.55 to $130.40 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after being down nearly $3 a barrel earlier in the session. A drop of more than $3 a barrel helped stocks finish higher Tuesday, the first day of trading for the week after Memorial Day. Last week, the major stock market indexes lost more than 3% as investors worried that a surge in oil and gas prices would dull discretionary spending and upend whatever growth the economy might manage.
