Stocks fluctuate after mixed profit reports

About halfway through first-quarter earnings reports, Wall Street still isn’t sure where the economy is headed.

Major stock indexes rallied late in the day Thursday after another session of shaky, back-and-forth trading. The Dow Jones industrials gained nearly 71 points. It was almost the exact opposite of Wednesday’s pattern, when stocks waffled throughout the day and then sank late in the afternoon.

Results released by Apple, EBay, Raytheon and PNC Financial Services helped lift the market, while reports from UPS and steelmaker Nucor signaled trouble. New economic numbers also were downbeat, with sales of existing homes falling 3% in March and initial jobless claims rising more than expected last week.

The Dow finished up 70.49 points, or 0.9%, to 7,957.06, erasing most of Wednesday’s loss of about 83 points.

Broader stock indicators also finished moderately higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 8.37 points, or 1%, to 851.92, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 6.09 points, or 0.4%, to 1,652.21.

The Russell 2,000 index of smaller companies, however, fell 0.9%.

Pittsburgh-based PNC jumped 7.5% after reporting a surprising 22% rise in first-quarter profit, boosted by lower funding costs and its acquisition of Cleveland’s National City Bank.

PNC’s results helped lift an index of 24 bank stocks by 3.7%.

Raytheon climbed 6.6% after raising its full-year earnings forecast and seeing stronger sales of missiles, radars and military electronics.

Apple gained 3.2%, while EBay shot up 12%. Good results at both companies raised expectations that some consumers will continue to spend on gadgets and other goods.

Other earnings reports were more troubling.

UPS dropped 2.6% after its profit fell more than 55% as fewer people sent packages or used premium services such as next-day air. UPS also warned that second-quarter results would fall short of analyst expectations.

Nucor tumbled 9.2% after it posted its first-ever loss and forecast an even wider deficit for the second quarter.

About three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

Oil futures rose 77 cents to $49.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar was mostly lower against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Overseas, key stock indexes fell 0.3% in Britain, 1.2% in Germany and 0.6% in France. Shares rose 0.2% in Japan.