Stocks battered from all directions

Stocks slumped Tuesday as oil prices inched back up from earlier lows and an investigation of the insurance industry pressured managed care companies, trumping better-than-expected earnings from International Business Machines Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc.

Shares of managed care providers tumbled on newspaper reports that an ongoing probe by the office of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer extended to health insurers. Volatile oil prices also prompted investors to sell; although crude retreated for a second session, the market was unnerved by its slow creep back above $53 per barrel.

“Between Spitzer and oil prices, it’s taking away from some of the party that we saw earlier with IBM and Texas Instruments, which has helped the Nasdaq hold it together today,” said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist for Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Conn.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 58.70, or 0.59 percent, at 9,897.62.

The broader gauges were also lower. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index sagged 10.79, or 0.97 percent, to 1,103.23. The Nasdaq composite index fell 13.62, or 0.70 percent, to 1,922.90, despite strength among chip stocks on earnings news. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index was one of the market’s few bright spots, closing up 1.03 percent.

Capping the lid on stocks, persistent supply worries and an attack on a key Iraqi pipeline helped oil rebound after a steep decline Monday, and although prices stayed in negative range, they did make up some of their losses. Light, sweet crude for November delivery closed down 38 cents at $53.29 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Other commodities were also under pressure, including steel and paper.

Decliners outnumbered advancing issues by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Preliminary consolidated volume came to 2.17 billion shares, compared to 1.71 billion shares traded Monday.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, was down 5.36, or 0.94 percent, at 566.67.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average added 0.91 percent. In Europe, France’s CAC-40 rose 1.11 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.62 percent and Germany’s DAX index surged 1.25 percent.