Sluggish Gains In All AreasSluggish Gains In All Areas

Investors weighed news of lower oil prices against the possibility of higher interest rates Tuesday, and the result was a muddled day of stock trading and sluggish gains across all our indexes.

Our information 100 index rose 0.19, or less than 0.1%, to close at 324.44, while the Nasdaq composite rose 2.91, or 0.1%, to 2,023.53. The Dow showed more life, rising 41.44, or 0.4%, to close at 10,432.52, while the S&P 500 rose 1.8, or less than 0.2%, to finish the day at 1,142.18.

Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking to the International Monetary Conference in London by video, said the Fed is prepared to raise rates at whatever pace is necessary to prevent inflation. That pushed markets down in early trading. But they rebounded later in the day after crude oil prices dropped and the U.S. Energy Department issued a report predicting the price of gas at the pump may have peaked and should be slightly lower this summer.

IBM and Hewlett-Packard shares were among the day's winners, each gaining 1.6% to reach $90.04 and $22.00, respectively. But shares in Texas Instruments fell nearly 1% to $26.04 despite a bullish midquarter update from management. The Nasdaq 100 tracking stock closed at $37.10, up 5 cents, or 0.1%, on slow trading volume of more than 64 million shares.

See the full listing of all the companies in the information 100 and the top 5 percentage winners and losers for the last closing at information.com/stocks.