U.S. stocks closed mixed after wavering between small gains and losses Tuesday, as Wall Street attempted to recover from Monday's plunge amid falling oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 9.72 points, or 0.06 percent, to 17,158.66. The S&P 500 rose 4.05 points, or 0.20 percent, to 2,016.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 11.66 points, or 0.24 percent, to 4,891.43.
Oil prices continued to slide Tuesday despite rising tensions in the Middle East, with both the U.S. oil and Brent crude prices dropping more than 2 percent, as the U.S. dollar strengthened. Crude prices had witnessed big swings lately and traded near multi-year lows. The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery moved down 79 cents to settle at 35.97 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February delivery decreased 80 cents to close at 36.42 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday cut off diplomatic ties with Iran after angry protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran, the capital of Iran, to protest against Saudi's execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.
Analysts said the heightened geopolitical tensions sent traders scurrying from stocks into safe haven assets. There are no major economic data due out Tuesday.
Traders were looking to the key December employment report scheduled to release Friday, the first jobs report since the U.S. Federal Reserve's mid-December decision to raise its interest rates. U.S. stocks slumped Monday, the first trading day of 2016, as global market rout and geopolitical tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia rattled the nerves of investors.
Overseas, Chinese stocks managed to end the day with just a slight loss after a heavy plunge in the afternoon session Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index going down 0.26 percent to close at 3,287.71 points. European equities rebounded mildly Tuesday following previous session's sharp decline, with British benchmark FTSE 100 Index rising 0.72 percent.
The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, decreased 6.57 percent to end at 19.34 Tuesday.
In other markets, gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose Tuesday as U.S. equities fell for the second day in a row. The most active gold contract for February delivery rose 3.2 dollars, or 0.30 percent, to settle at 1,078.40 dollars per ounce.
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