Morning Market Movers: Earnings Reports Start Rolling in, Stocks React Accordingly

Here’s what’s shaking:

Stocks:

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Stocks are wavering in early trading on Wall Street as U.S. companies turn in a mixed batch of earnings reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell four points to 13,653 shortly after the opening bell Tuesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down less than a point at 1,485 and the Nasdaq composite edged up a point to 3,136.

Chemical maker DuPont rose after reporting income that beat Wall Street's forecasts.

Johnson & Johnson beat most expectations for the final quarter of the year, but its stock slipped bell due to a weak forecast for this year.

Earnings reports continue after the market closes with Google, IBM, CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Oil:

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The price of oil remained above $95 a barrel on Tuesday, boosted by the Bank of Japan's announcement of more bond purchases next year but tempered by ample supplies and uncertainty about the outcome of negotiations in Washington on the U.S. debt limit.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for February delivery was down 3 cents to $95.53 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The February contract, which expires Tuesday, last settled on Jan. 18 as U.S. markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The more heavily traded March contract was down 11 cents at $95.93.

The Bank of Japan raised its annual inflation target to 2 percent from 1 percent on Tuesday and said it would continue its asset-purchase program - meant to increase liquidity in the financial system - in 2014.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, was up 33 cents to $112.22 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Markets:

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Featured image courtesy Getty Images.