Wall Street struggles as oil slides further

(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)Wall Street fluctuated on Tuesday pressured by sliding crude prices. At 3:38 p.m. in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1% at 16011.23 after dropping to as low as 15900 in the afternoon. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX0 was unchanged at 1880.25 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.3% at 4474.85. West Texas Intermediate oil futures headed lower on Tuesday but Brent prices climbed. February West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.3% to settle at $28.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest settlement for a front-month contract since September 2003. March Brent crude the global crude benchmark rose 0.7% to $28.76 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange. U.S. stocks had opened higher after a report showed China's growth in 2015 was the slowest in 25 years but in line with expectations. Tiffany (NYSE:TIF) slumped 5.4% to $64.02.after the jewelry retailer posted a holiday-period sales decline and cut its outlook. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) declined 6.7% to $16.75 after the social network grappled with a service outage early Tuesday. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) wavered and was last up 1.2% at $26.27 relinquishing an earlier advance after the bank's quarterly profit topped expectations. Rival Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) fell 0.6% to $14.38 paring earlier losses to as low as $14.01 after the banking behemoth lagged behind  fourth-quarter revenue expectations. Market Open Wall Street opened higher on Tuesday rebounding from its worst 10-session start to a year ever. Stocks rallied as China's slowest annual growth rate in 25 years boosted hopes of further stimulus measures from Beijing. The rally was also helped strong earnings reports from Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). At 10:36 a.m. in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) rose 1% to 16141.17. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) was up 0.9% at 1897.39. The Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) was up 0.8% at 4524.59. Friday saw the S&P 500 sinking to its lowest since October 2014. China's 2015 growth hit 6.9% after the fourth quarter decelerated to 6.8% capping a tumultuous year in which concerns about Beijing ability to rebalance the slowing economy have rattled investors across markets. Crude continued to fall on Tuesday with West Texas Intermediate futures losing 1.5% paring an earlier 3.6% slide. U.S. data showed confidence among homebuilders was unchanged at the start of year indicating the residential real estate market was sustaining the steady progress made in 2015. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) rose 2.6% to $26.65. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) fluctuated and was last down 0.5% at $14.39. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) are among those posting results on Tuesday after markets close. Pre-Open US stocks are poised to recoup losses as traders continue to worry about global growth and mull the speed of Fed interest rate rises this year. US markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Day. In London at the time of writing the FTSE100 is up 124 points along with other European indices. US crude prices are also gaining after recent falls with spot WTI up 2.18% to above the psychologically significant US$30 a barrel mark. The Dow finished Monday 391 points at 15988 while the S&P500 lost 42 to stand at 1880. The tech heavy Nasdaq shed 127 points to go to 4488. In futures trading the Dow Jones is up 271 points while S&P500 futures are 32 ahead. The Nasdaq futures are trading up around 73 points. Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets noted on US markets: "After the long-holiday weekend US markets are setting up for a higher open on Tuesday as Morgan Stanley Bank of America Unilever and Delta Air Lines are set to release fourth quarter earnings before the opening Bell. AMD IBM and Netflix report after the close." He said more generally that equities were rebounding today after Chinese economic data raised the prospect of further government stimulus. "There hasn't been a big deceleration in China over December but while inflation remains low missed expectations raise the possibility of further rates cuts from the PBOC" he said.