New York – Wall Street was mixed in an erratic session Tuesday as investors, uneasy about approaching earnings reports, debated whether the drop in oil prices would eventually bring stocks down as well.
Investors had already lost some of their recent ebullience going into the earnings season, worried that 18 straight quarters of double-digit growth in Standard & Poor’s 500 companies might be ending. The market was skittish after Sprint Nextel Inc. warned that its 2007 results will miss analyst projections and after another half-dozen companies warned Monday that fourth-quarter results will come up short.
But investors also wrestled with a continuing slide in oil prices. Warm weather in the Northeast has weakened demand, and at one point drove a barrel of oil to below $54 a barrel.
Not only did this drag shares of major oil and gasoline companies to two-month lows, but caused institutional investors like hedge funds to rethink their positions, analysts said. Some investors might be taking cash off the table on concerns that demand for crude might not re-emerge, analysts said.
The Dow fell 6.89, or 0.06 percent, to 12,416.60. The broader S&P 500 index dropped 0.73, or 0.05 percent, to 1,412.11.
Technology stocks went against the overall market, with the Nasdaq composite index rising 5.63, or 0.23 percent, to 2,443.83. Leading the composite was Apple Computer Inc., which unveiled its long-anticipated iPhone.
The drop in oil prices was originally one of the market’s biggest motivators, sending shares of transports and retailers higher. Investors bet lower prices at the pump would cause consumers to spend more in stores, and trucking companies would spend less to fuel their fleets.
But that decline in turn sent shares of major oil and gasoline companies sliding as lower prices could cut into profits.
