U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday after switching direction multiple times during the session, as investors tracked the price of oil and fourth-quarter earnings from corporations including Johnson & Johnson.
"To some extent, investors feel adrift. They took a measure of assurance from the Federal Reserve's guarantee through quantitative easing, and now that that's gone, there are a lot more agitated about the underlying dynamics," Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank, said of the market's volatility.
Johnson & Johnson fell after the health-products supplier reported international sales fell about 7 percent in the fourth quarter; Halliburton rose after the oilfield-services supplier reported a quarterly profit that beat estimates ; Delta Air Lines climbed after the carrier posted earnings above estimates; Morgan Stanley dropped after the brokerage tallied earnings below expectations, and FXCM slid after the currency brokerage detailed its rescue loan from Leucadia National.
Crude-oil prices dropped as the International Monetary Fund cut is outlook for global economic growth for 2015 and 2016, projecting growth of 3.5 percent this year and 3.7 percent for next. Both were down 0.3 percentage points from prior estimates.
"The decline in the price of oil is not particularly good news for the global economy," Hugh Johnson, chairman of Hugh Johnson Advisors, said.
"We don't know exactly where oil is going to go, but all capital spending related to the energy sector is going to be very impaired this year," Paul Karos, senior portfolio manager at Whitebox Advisors, said.
The damage extends beyond energy producers to "global companies that have a good percentage of their business tied to it," said Karos, pointing to large global manufacturers of drill bits, pumps and other equipment.
However, earnings and economic reports all take a back seat to the European Central Bank, which is expected to announce a program of government bond purchases, or quantitative easing, on Thursday.
"Beyond the size of the ECB's program, the possible risk sharing, asset quality, and other details will be important to the market reaction," Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group, noted in emailed commentary.
Read More Market to ECB: Size of QE matters!
The CBOE Volatility Index, a measure of investor uncertainty, fell 5.1 percent to 19.89.
Major U.S. Indexes
Reversing course after a 77-point jump, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 164 points, and bounced back, rising 3.66 points to 17,515.23, with blue-chip gains led by Coca-Cola.
The added 3.13 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,022.55, with technology leading sector gains and consumer discretionary sector losses among is 10 major industry groups.
The Nasdaq rose 20.46 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,654.85.
For every two shares rising, roughly three fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where 861 million shares traded; composite volume surpassed 3.9 billion.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for February delivery fell $2.30, or 4.7 percent, to $46.39 a barrel; gold futures rose for a seventh session, up $17.30, or 1.4 percent, to $1,294.20 an ounce.
The U.S. dollar rose against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note used to figure mortgage rates and other consumer loans fell 4 basis points to 1.7934 percent.
"We underestimated how much earnings growth and margin expansion had been helped by a slowly deteriorating dollar; from an earnings perspective, the dollar does matter, and is a big headwind for 2015 that is unlikely to go away," Karos said of the U.S. currency's steady climb of late.
On Friday, stocks jumped to close higher for a first session in six, while tallying a third weekly drop, as energy led gains with U.S. crude rising and as investors considered a mixed bag of economic reports.
Coming Up This Week:
Wednesday:
8:30 a.m. Eastern: Housing starts for December
Thursday:
8:30 a.m.: Jobless claims for week ending Jan. 17
9: a.m.: FHFA home-price index for November
9:45 a.m.: Markit PMI flash for January
Friday:
8:30 a.m.: Chicago Fed national activity index for December
10 a.m. Existing-home sales for December
10 a.m. Leading indicators for December
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