Energy stocks drive market

NEW YORK -- Investors sidestepped some of their doubts about the economy and bought energy and industrial stocks as commodity prices rose.

Stocks ended back-and-forth trading mostly higher Tuesday as a spike in the price of gold and corporate dealmaking extended an advance from Monday. The gains in commodity prices helped stocks pare early losses.

Still, even with the gains in commodities, traders remained on edge about unemployment and the strength of an economic recovery.

Concerns about unemployment grew after health care products maker Johnson & Johnson said it would cut up to 7 percent of its global work force and streamline its business structure to save up to $900 million next year.

Financial stocks fell after the British government injected more money into Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Group. That fanned worries about the troubles with bad debt still facing many banks.

The Dow fell 17.53, or 0.2 percent, to 9,771.91, after being down as much as 86 points. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 rose 2.53, or 0.2 percent, to 1,045.41. The Nasdaq rose 8.12, or 0.4 percent, to 2,057.32.

Analysts expect trading to be choppy this week, as investors digest a frenzy economic reports. Investors are watching the Federal Reserve, which concludes a two-day meeting on interest rates today, for any clues about the economy and the direction of interest rates.

Investors also looked past increases in automobile sales last month. Ford said sales rose 3 percent from October last year, while General Motors' sales rose 4 percent. It was the first monthly sales increase for the nation's largest automaker since January 2008.

Crude oil rose $1.47 to settle at $79.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold surged to a new high of $1,087 an ounce.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.3 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.4 percent, and France's CAC-40 dropped 1.5 percent. Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.

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