Stocks end the day near where they began

Stocks ended near where they began Thursday on a mixed bag of corporate earnings reports and another drop in crude oil prices. Bond prices fell, sending yields higher. In Europe, stocks gave back an early gain after enthusiasm about new European Central Bank moves to spur faster growth faded.

THE NUMBERS: At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 5.2 points, about 0.03 percent, at 16,995.1. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index had gained less than a point to close at 1,989.6. The Nasdaq composite gave up 12.2 points, about 0.2 percent, to 4,662.2.

CRUDE ENERGY: As U.S. markets closed, the benchmark U.S. crude oil had shed 37 cents, about 0.1 percent, to $37.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped 4.9 percent on Wednesday. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, had lost 88 cents, about 2.` percent, to $40.19 a barrel.

“When oil falls, it conjures up images of deflation, inventories piling up and China slowing,” said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer of Exencial Wealth Advisors. For investors to buy more stocks, “they want to see oil markets stabilize.”

GUIDING LOWER: Several companies fell after issuing forecasts or results that were weaker than analysts were expecting. Canadian Solar’s U.S.-listed shares fell $2.95, or 14 percent, to $18.81 and Vail Resorts lost $6.68, or 5 percent, to $126.33.

BONDS PRICES: U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.93 percent.

BOLD ECB: The central bank that governs the euro currency surprised financial markets by cutting the main refinancing rate to zero from 0.05 percent. It also reduced the interest rate on commercial bank deposits held at the central bank to minus 0.4 percent from minus 0.3 percent. It also expanded its monthly bond-buying program to 80 billion euros ($85 billion) a month from 60 billion euros.

ANALYST’S TAKE: “The central bank came out all guns blazing,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. “The decision to ease monetary policy across a broad range of tools sent a strong message to the markets that it is not willing to sit by while they repeatedly fall well short of their 2 percent inflation target.”

RETAIL WIN: Dollar General rose $5.45, or 7 percent, to $80.66 after the company reported that its fourth quarter profit rose almost 6 percent, topping Wall Street expectations, as customer traffic and transaction amounts increased.

BOOM BOX: Cloud storage company Box Inc. rose $1.03, or 8 percent, to $13.55 after reporting results that beat estimates.