The Dow and S&P 500 ended the day barely in positive territory, after falling nearly 1% on fears over the health of European banks and worse-than-expected readings on the housing market continued to trouble the markets.
The Nasdaq trimmed some of the day's losses, but closed down 1% after most software stocks dropped dramatically following Oracle's surprisingly weak quarterly earnings released Tuesday night.
Earlier in the day a report on November's existing home sales came in well below analysts' forecasts also stoked fear among investors.
"You take housing data and add Oracle's earnings miss to it, and it's all sobering," said Sal Arnuk, head of trading at Themis Trading.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) closed up 4 points, or 0.03%; while the S&P 500 (SPX) added 2 points, or 0.2%.
The market's midweek sobriety follows an upward swing of more than 300 points on Tuesday, as concerns about the European debt crisis eased, and investors welcomed signs of strength in the U.S. housing market.
Investors said it's difficult to read too much into this week's swings as trading is particularly light this time of year. "Volumes always go way down this time of year, and you start to see wild moves that don't make much sense," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management.
The dollar gained strength against the euro and the Japanese yen, but fell against the British pound.Oil for January delivery added $1.66 to $98.91 a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $4.00 to $1,613.60 an ounce.
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