NEW YORK — Mixed earnings reports and a stronger dollar helped stocks finish about where they started Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average wavered within a 100- point range as traders attempted to parse the direction of the economy amid a drop in home prices, a batch of weak earnings reports and a slight rise in consumer confidence.
Stocks started the day with losses after disappointing results from Texas Instruments, U.S. Steel and Bristol-Myers Squibb. DuPont, one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow average, fell 1 percent even though it beat estimates.
The Dow rose 5.41 points, or 0.1 percent, to 11,169.46. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.02 to 1,185.64, while the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index rose 6.44, or 0.3 percent, to 2,497.29.
The 30 stocks in the Dow were split down the middle, with half falling and half rising. Microsoft rose 2.8 percent to lead the index, while Procter & Gamble fell 1.1 percent as the measure’s laggard.
A gain in consumer confidence this month helped stocks pare their losses and then edge higher in afternoon trading.
“The consumer-confidence numbers were encouraging,” said Bernie McSherry, vice president of strategic initiatives at Cuttone and Co. It’s a sign shoppers “may be reaching into their wallets heading into the holiday shopping season.”
Ford and Coach were among the few bright spots in the big batch of earnings reports released Tuesday.
Shares of Netflix rose $10.78, or 6.4 percent, to $177.62 amid rumors that the company may be a target of an acquisition by Apple.
Traders were moving out of riskier assets as the dollar strengthened. A stronger dollar makes stocks and commodities more expensive because they are priced in dollars. The dollar rose against Japan’s yen and the euro Tuesday.
“We’ve had some modestly disappointing earnings reports from a couple of bellwether companies such as U.S. Steel,” said Dean Gulis at Loomis Sayles in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “The earnings environment is a little less buoyant than it has been, and people are using the opportunity to consolidate their positions after a strong run.”
Wall Street strategists have reduced their recommended investment allocations of equities amid the rally from the market’s 2010 lows in July.
Strategists currently advise that an average of 57.7 percent of assets be put in stocks, down from 60 percent in September and 61 percent in August and July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“A correction is overdue,” Marc Faber told Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness With Margaret Brennan.”
