FINANCIAL NEWS
Stocks End Mixed as Oil Rebounds

The Dow ended down 3.69 points, or 0.03 percent to 10,936.86. The Nasdaq was up 19.60 points, or 0.95 percent, to 2,090.21. The S&P 500 also finished higher, moving up 3.19 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,225.31.

Oil Bounces Back

Tech stocks rose as Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and other chipmakers began to line up for their midquarter reports. Investors might be turning more bullish on the tech sector because it has lagged the rest of the market in terms of recent gains.

Early signs of spring initially helped push oil prices back from recent runs at record highs, but investors bet on more cold weather and continued high demand ahead. By the close, futures rose 11 cents to settle at $53.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Consumer Credit Up

The dollar, meanwhile, posted modest gains against both the euro and yen.

In the lone piece of economic data released today, the Federal Reserve said U.S. consumers boosted their debt in January. Consumer credit was up at an annual pace of 6.6 percent last month. That's the fastest rate in three months and represents an increase of $11.5 billion worth of consumer borrowing on credit cards, mortgages and car loans over the previous month.