An early rally fades, leaving U.S. stocks mostly flat

NEW YORK – Stocks swung between gains and losses Thursday, then ended right back where they started.

With seconds to close, the Standard and Poor’s 500 eked out a gain, finishing just 0.02 percent higher.

Stocks rose at the open of trading, echoing a surge in markets in Europe, where the central bank announced a series of moves to jolt the region’s economy to faster growth. Then, as central bank chief Mario Draghi spoke at a news conference, investors started having second thoughts and stocks there sank, as did U.S. markets.

The S&P 500 edged up 0.31 points to end at 1,989.57. The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 5.23 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 16,995.13. It was up as much as 130 points earlier. The Nasdaq composite gave up 12.22 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,662.16.

The new European Central Bank moves included a cut in interest rates, cheap loans to banks and several new measures, such as targeting corporate bonds in its bond-buying program.

“The central bank came out all guns blazing,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at currency trader OANDA.

The bank’s efforts also underlined the weakness of the 19-country eurozone and the desperation by monetary authorities to do something about it.

“The effectiveness of central bank policy has become less and less,” said Ernie Cecilia, chief investment officer of Bryn Mawr Trust. “There really isn’t a lot of growth to show. Europe is really struggling.”