Chaotic Day Ends With Gains

Updated from 4:13 p.m. EST

Stocks swung in a wide range Tuesday before buyers finally took the upper hand late and sent the major averages to a modestly higher close.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which at its intraday best was up more than 100 and at its worst down by 100, finished ahead by 51.70 points, or 0.4%, at 13,010.14. All told, the Dow traded in a band of nearly 270 points.

At the same time, the S&P 500 added 6.43 points, or 0.45%, to 1439.70, and the Nasdaq Composite edged up 3.43 points, or 0.13%, to 2596.81, both after enduring their own considerable volatility.

Early on, a rally in commodity stocks and positive earnings from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote - Cramer on HPQ - Stock Picks) sent the market higher, but the momentum faded as the release of the Federal Reserve minutes approached.

The selling reached its peak after investors had a chance to digest the central bank's commentary on the economy and get a view of its thinking at its two-day October meeting. However, a late surge back to the upside erased the losses and sent the indices into positive territory for good.

Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist with Oaktree Asset Management, said it was hard to attribute the turnaround to anything specific, given the amount of negativity on Wall Street, but that technicals and the perception of some stocks being cheap made for good excuses.

"There is a camp out there that the Fed will really cut rates when Dec. 11 rolls around, and that helped us bounce from the session lows," he said. "If that does come, it will provide some stability to the market. Because of that, there's some bargain-hunting as people are trying to find that stability."

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