U.S. stocks close flat amid rout in crude

U.S. stocks staged an afternoon rally to finish little changed, shrugging off a renewed rout in crude sparked by concern that China's economy is slowing. The dollar declined after a Federal Reserve official said policy moves are not predetermined amid recent market turmoil. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell just short of a third day of gains after erasing all of a 1% decline amid advances in consumer and technology shares. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4% as Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said market turbulence's impact on U.S. growth will factor into officials' policy decision. Crude fell more than 6%, halting the longest winning run this year after after an index of Chinese manufacturing dropped to a three-year low. Treasuries fell. Fischer's dovish comments added to optimism among equity investors recently emboldened by signals from central banks in Europe and Japan that they stand ready to do what is needed to spur growth. The advance in American benchmarks even as crude retreated decoupled, at least temporarily, assets that have moved in lockstep so far this year. “Usually when oil's down this much you'd see stocks down but it's had a nice run back and it's trading around that $32 level,” Larry Peruzzi, managing director of international equities at Mischler Financial Group Inc. in Boston. “After the last two weeks traders and investors are just emotionally spent with huge up days and huge down days. Central banks and people searching through earnings numbers offsets it a little bit.” STOCKS, TECHNOLOGY The S&P 500 fell 0.1% at 4 p.m. in New York, after rallying 2.5% on Friday. The gauge erased morning losses that reached 1% before slipping in the final minutes of trading. Netflix Inc. rose 2.5% to pace advances in technology shares, while phone and utility stocks advanced more than 0.9%. Energy shares led declines, with a 1.9% slide. The U.S. benchmark plunged 5.1% in January, its worst start to a year since 2009. Amid the turbulence, investors have been loading up on shares of companies with the sturdiest earnings momentum. Qualities that define winning investments no longer include the high-risk, high-reward potential of companies whose balance sheets are laden with debt. Investors are also looking to U.S. data for indications of the health of the world's biggest economy and the possible trajectory of interest rates. Household spending cooled in December, while consumer purchases were little changed. A report from the Institute for Supply Management showed manufacturing contracted in January. The Stoxx Europe 600 dropped 0.7%, as Nokia Oyj dragged a measure of technology shares to the worst performance of the 19 industry groups. The company tumbled 11% after investors were disappointed by a court decision in a patent dispute with Samsung Electronics Co.  COMMODITIES The Bloomberg Commodity Index fell 1.7%, having climbed 2.6% last week, the most since October. West Texas Intermediate oil futures dropped 6% to settle at $31.62 a barrel, ending a four-day rally. Nickel fell to a two-week low and copper retreated after data pointed to worsening demand in top consumer China. Gold futures climbed to the highest in almost three months after data showed further contraction in Chinese and U.S. manufacturing, boosting demand for the metal as a haven.