Stocks waver on plunging oil prices

After two days of huge losses, U.S. stocks ended the day back where they started on Tuesday. Energy companies sank as crude oil plunged 7 percent, but technology and consumer-focused companies climbed.

U.S. crude oil fell to its lowest price since August 2017, and it has now fallen almost 40 percent since early October. Investors are worried that supplies continue to increase and that demand is slowing as the global economy weakens. The plunge in oil prices has crushed energy company stocks in recent weeks.

Energy stocks including Exxon Mobil fell again on Tuesday, but some of those losses were offset by gains in Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing. Boeing raised its quarterly dividend and said it will buy back another $20 billion of its own stock. Boeing has tumbled on worries that the global trade war will hit its profits particularly hard.

The Federal Reserve started its last meeting of the year. Investors expect it to raise interest rates on Wednesday when the meeting concludes. That would be its fourth increase this year, and its ninth in three years. Investors are hoping the Fed will say the increases are going to slow down in 2019 in light of recent signs that economic growth is slowing.

Trading was turbulent. Two days of widespread market declines had knocked 1,004 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and on Tuesday, investors couldn’t find a convincing reason for stock prices to go higher. On the other hand they didn’t see cause for another big decline, either.

The S&P 500 index inched up 0.22 points to 2,546.16, but is still trading at its lowest levels in 14 months. The Dow industrials added 82.66 points, or 0.4 percent, to 23,675.64. The Nasdaq composite gained 30.18 points, or 0.4 percent, to 6,783.91.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies lost another 0.97 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,377.18. The index is 21 percent below the peak it set in August, meaning it’s in what Wall Street calls a “bear market.”