U.S. Stocks Trade Mostly Lower

By Saumya Vaishampayan

U.S. stocks mostly fell Wednesday amid mixed fourth-quarter corporate earnings and as a pullback in oil prices weighed on energy stocks.

The S&P 500 fell five points, or 0.2%, to 2045, and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 19 points, or 0.4%, to 4709.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 24 points, or 0.1%, to 17690.

Walt Disney Co.'s shares rallied 7% on stronger-than-expected results, boosting the Dow, a price-weighted index which tends to be influenced by pricier components such as Disney.

Crude-oil futures fell 4% to $50.92 a barrel, following four straight sessions of gains. Energy stocks on the S&P 500 fell 1.4%, among the biggest sector declines.

Stock-market swings have picked up in recent weeks, driven in part by uncertainty about the impact of the Federal Reserve's widely expected increase in interest rates and sharp moves in energy and currency markets. The Dow has moved by more than 1% in either direction in the six sessions ended Tuesday. Through Tuesday's close, the Dow is 2.1% below its record close of 18053.71 and the S&P 500 is 1.9% off its record of 2090.57.

"We're in a period where the market is really thrashing around," said Jeff Morris, head of U.S. equities at Standard Life Investments. "It has to do a balancing act between those portions of the U.S. economy showing genuine strength and recovery and international influences," such as global growth concerns and political developments in Greece, he added.

Health-care stocks fell 1.6%, falling the most on the S&P 500. Merck & Co. said its sales fell in the fourth quarter as a stronger U.S. dollar and patent expirations weighed on results. Revenue fell shy of expectations. Shares fell 3%.

In other corporate news, General Motors Co. said fourth-quarter profit surged 91%, beating analyst expectations. The company said it plans to boost its dividend starting in the second quarter. Shares rose 2.9%.

Staples Inc. agreed to buy Office Depot Inc. for $6.3 billion . The two companies have roughly 4,000 stores and they projected annual sales of more than $39 billion. Shares of Staples fell 7.9%, while those of Office Depot rose 2.9%.

In economic news, private payrolls increased by 213,000 in January, according to a report compiled by payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Moody's Analytics. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected payrolls to increase by 240,000.

Still, the overall employment trend remains positive, investors said.

"The economy is expanding, the private sector is adding jobs, and that's good news" for stocks, said Matthew Kaufler, who oversees about $2 billion as a portfolio manager at Federated Investors. "With the economy on firmer footing, inflation expectations subdued, corporations returning capital aggressively to shareholders, those all point to an attractive environment for equities," he added.

The ADP report is often viewed as an indicator for Friday's closely watched jobs report, which is expected to show the economy added 237,000 jobs in January, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.

Greece's new leaders continued to meet with their European counterparts as they try to reach an agreement about the country's hefty debt pile. European stocks fell, with France's CAC 40 down 0.3% and Germany's DAX 30 declining 0.4%. The Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed in recent trade.

China's central bank on Wednesday cut the amount of deposits set aside by commercial banks in case of financial trouble, taking a major step to boost bank lending. The move is part of a continued effort to kick-start growth.

"We're looking for good companies that aren't quite as dependent on the macro environment," said Mr. Morris. He added that he's looking at technology companies that are involved with cybersecurity.

In other markets, gold futures rose 0.6% to $1268.20 an ounce.

Treasury prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up to 1.828% from 1.781% on Tuesday.

Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com

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