Stocks Finished Mixed as Crude Retreated

U.S. stocks finished mixed on Tuesday, as weak oil prices drove a selloff in energy and materials shares. The Dow industrials gained 22.40 points, or 0.13%, to 17,251.53. The S&P 500 shed 3.71 points, or 0.18%, to 2,015.93. The Nasdaq Composite was down 21.61 points, or 0.45%, to 4,728.67.

Oil fell 3 percent on Tuesday, extending losses for a second straight day. April West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 84 cents, or 2.3%, to settle at $36.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 79 cents, or 2%, to $38.74 a barrel.

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders held in March at a nine-month low as sales prospects waned, a sign the housing market may be struggling to accelerate as the spring-selling season approaches. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index was 58 this month, matching the February reading that was the weakest since Ma

Oracle Corp posted a 3.4 percent fall in quarterly revenue, hurt by a stronger dollar and weak sales of its traditional database software products. Net income fell to $2.14 billion, or 50 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Feb. 29, from $2.50 billion, or 56 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $9.01 billion from $9.33 billion.

Dell Inc. reported revenue for the 12-month period ending Jan. 29, 2016, of $54.9 billion, down from $58.1 billion the previous year.