U.S. stocks recover most of day's losses by close

NEW YORK (MarketWatch)
U.S. stocks largely erased Wednesday losses, with the S&P 500 Index  stalled at five-month highs, amid an ongoing tug between Europe's debt troubles and hopes for U.S. corporate earnings and an improving domestic economy.
The afternoon release of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book relayed what was already known, "that the economy is improving slightly and we don't have any inflation, and hopefully we'll continue along our way," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners.
But, "we are starting to see a little talk out of Europe, so that is probably keeping a lid on things," Pavlik added.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 13.02 points to 12,449.45
The S&P 500 gained nearly half a point to 1,292.48
The Nasdaq Composite rose 8.26 points to 2,710.76.