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Stocks traded slightly lower, and in a narrow range, throughout much of the session Tuesday, as investors took a breather from a three-day rally as oil prices rose amid ongoing turmoil in Libya and the Middle East.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 10 points after trading within a 50-point range all session, and following Monday's rally. The blue-chip index had risen 3.6 percent over the previous three sessions, after falling 4.3 percent from its Feb. 18, 2011 high.
Among Dow components, General Electric and Caterpillar fell, while American Express and Verizon gained.
The S&P 500 fell slightly, trading below 1,300 all day, while the Nasdaq also declined. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, fell near 20.
Among the S&P 500's key sectors, industrials and consumer discretionary fell, while telecom and utilities gained.
Investors appeared to be taking a pause Tuesday after three consecutive sessions of strong gains reversed a good portion of the losses sustained in the wake of the multiple disasters in Japan.
"I would say the impressive part of that is we handled a lot of very negative news, very unexpected, uncertain news, and saw a relatively minor pullback as a consequence," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist and technical analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
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