Dollar woes, Intel downgrade weigh on stocks

U.S. stocks shuffled to a mixed finish Tuesday, rebounding from earlier lows as oil prices retreated after surging past $50 per barrel. An analyst downgrade of Intel Corp. pressured technology shares.

With the euro trading at $1.3080 against the dollar, a new record high for the European currency, Wall Street worried about a falloff in foreign investment and more expensive imports that could curtail consumer spending.

Crude oil futures briefly surpassed $50 a barrel but then retreated in volatile trading amid concerns about low inventories of heating oil ahead of winter. Light, sweet crude for January delivery soared as high as $50.25 per barrel before settling at $48.94, an increase of 30 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The last time Nymex futures closed above $50 a barrel was Nov. 3.

“Oil is obviously pressuring the market, the euro is at a record high, so the dollar is reacting to that as well to general concerns about the deficits,” said Janna Sampson, director of portfolio management for Oakbrook Investments. “I think those are the two things really pressuring the market today.”

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 3.18, or 0.03 percent, at 10,492.60, after spending most of the day in negative territory

Broader stock indicators were down, but also well off their lows of the day. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.30, or 0.03 percent, to 1,176.94. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 0.91, or 0.04 percent, to 2,084.28, largely on weakness in the chip sector.

Traders attributed some of the day’s lackluster trading to light volume ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, but few were concerned about it after several weeks of robust performance.

“We have overextended ourselves a little bit, but overall I think the economy has held in much better than expected, crude has gone back down and a lot of those bubbles of uncertainty are gone,” said Bill Groenveld, head trader for vFinance Investments. “We’ll see what the holiday season brings, but I think it’s starting a little early today.”

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Preliminary consolidated volume came to 1.8 billion shares, compared to 1.76 billion on Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 3.01, or 0.48 percent, at 624.53.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.20 percent, France’s CAC-40 gained 0.15 percent and Germany’s DAX index fell 0.26 percent. Markets in Japan were closed for a national holiday.