US close: Stocks end choppy session mixed as oil tumbles

Stocks on Wall Street ended a choppy session mixed, with energy shares lower on the back of tumbling oil prices, as the earnings season gets into swing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.3% and the S&P 500 added 0.1%, but the Nasdaq ended down 0.1%.

Stocks initially shrugged off another tumble in Chinese stocks amid concerns about the slowdown in the world’s second largest economy following muted inflation figures, but the rest of the session was bumpy, as oil prices fell to new 12-year lows.

West Texas Intermediate tumbled 5.9% to $31.19 per barrel and Brent slid 6.6% to $31.33 a barrel. Chevron Corp fell 1.7% while Exxon Mobil dropped 1.3%.

Basic resource stocks were also firmly under the cosh, with Freeport-McMoran ending down a whopping 20.4%.

Chinese data released earlier showed inflation rose to 1.6% year-on-year, as expected, compared with 1.5% the previous month. However, the producer price was unchanged at minus 5.9% in December, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The People’s Bank of China on Monday set the yuan's reference rate against the dollar at 6.5626, up on Friday's fixing of 6.5636, but it did little to cheer the market.

James Hughes, chief market analyst at GKFX, said: “With WTI oil breaking below the $32 a barrel it yet again begs the question as to when we will finally hit the bottom. Now many will give you a price for the absolute low and believe this wholeheartedly based on research, however oil prices currently have no floor.

“I am not ashamed to admit that I have been calling the bottom of oil every $10 since $70! As we look to test $30 a barrel I now have to say $20 is the next low to look out for, however for me $20 is when it finally really starts to hurt the Middle Eastern producers and that, and only that is why I don’t see us lower.”

On the economic data front, it was a quiet day with the only notable release being the Labor Market Conditions Index Change for December which rose to 2.9 from 2.7 the previous month. Analysts had predicted a reading of 0.4.

In corporate news, biopharmaceutical company Baxalta ended lower after London-listed Shire agreed to buy the company for $32bn.

US biotech firm Celgene Corp was in the red after cutting its 2015 profit outlook.

Tesla Motors declined after Elon Musk predicted a customer in Los Angeles will be able to “summon” their electric car via cellphone within two years.

In currencies, the dollar was down 0.2% against the pound but up 0.6% against the euro and 0.8% higher against the yen.

S&P 500 - Risers

Macy's Inc. (M) $38.82 +8.16%

Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $30.49 +5.14%

Kohls Corp. (KSS) $50.04 +4.51%

Carnival Corp. (CCL) $53.93 +3.61%

GameStop Corp. (GME) $29.36 +3.49%

Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $114.96 +3.20%

FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $31.16 +2.91%

Hasbro Inc (HAS) $70.01 +2.90%

Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) $48.45 +2.82%

Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $89.00 +2.64%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $4.30 -20.43%

Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $5.34 -19.94%

Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $2.77 -10.52%

McKesson Corp. (MCK) $163.69 -10.25%

NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $10.23 -9.74%

CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $6.99 -9.04%

Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) $18.68 -8.00%

Ensco Plc. (ESV) $11.77 -7.97%

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $9.62 -7.05%

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) $16.00 -6.98%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $25.27 +1.98%

Intel Corp. (INTC) $32.06 +1.75%

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $98.53 +1.62%

Home Depot Inc. (HD) $125.80 +1.53%

Visa Inc. (V) $73.83 +1.30%

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $133.27 +1.25%

Nike Inc. (NKE) $59.55 +1.16%

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $64.23 +1.09%

McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $116.69 +1.05%

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $165.64 +1.04%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $59.17 -3.27%

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $61.46 -2.89%

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $80.75 -1.68%

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $73.69 -1.34%

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $97.56 -0.61%

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $109.56 -0.54%

JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $58.83 -0.15%

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $52.30 -0.06%

3M Co. (MMM) $140.44 -0.04%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $114.96 +3.20%

Nxp Semiconductors Nv (NXPI) $77.23 +2.73%

Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $51.17 +2.38%

Sba Communications Corp. (SBAC) $103.87 +2.19%

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $57.82 +2.10%

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $25.27 +1.98%

Liberty Interactive Corporation QVC Group (QVCA) $25.50 +1.92%

Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $617.74 +1.76%

American Airlines Group (AAL) $41.08 +1.76%

Intel Corp. (INTC) $32.06 +1.75%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $35.51 -7.04%

Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $34.61 -6.23%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $103.94 -6.12%

Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $12.53 -6.00%

Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $45.46 -5.49%

Celgene Corp. (CELG) $103.03 -5.46%

Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $52.80 -4.68%

Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $2.96 -4.66%

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $161.65 -3.85%

Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $31.35 -3.66%