The major indexes were down for much of the day as investors fretted over high U.S. bond yields and possible rate increases in Europe and Japan. By afternoon, sectors including health care, technology and energy had rebounded.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 rose in response to a sharp drop in crude oil futures, which declined after a government report showed crude oil inventories at their highest level since 1999. A barrel of light crude settled at $60.02, down $1.56 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"A decline in the price of crude bodes well" for curing inflation fears, said Brian Bush, director of equity research, Stephens Inc.

The Nasdaq composite index dipped slightly as Google Inc. continued a streak of erratic trading, falling sharply after the company mistakenly posted an internal financial outlook that included its concerns about narrowing profits.

The Dow rose 25.05, or 0.23 percent, to 11,005.74.

Broader stock indicators were barely mixed. The S&P 500 index rose 2.59, or 0.2 percent, to 1,278.47, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.92, or 0.04 percent, to 2,267.46.

Advancing issues barely edged out decliners on the New York Stock Exchange.

The market has been skittish since the beginning of March, with the S&P 500 declining for the previous four straight sessions as bond yields hit highs not seen since June 2004. But the declines created a buying opportunity, Bush said.

"After four days of decline, the market was near-term oversold," he said.

The critical release this week will be Friday's average hourly wage number, said Philip S. Dow, managing director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher in Minneapolis. "If that shows not much in the way of inflation, we could have a pretty good rally here."

The wage figures will be released as part of the Labor Department's monthly employment report; the data will also include the number of jobs created last month.

Bonds rose slightly, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.73 percent, down from 4.74 percent late yesterday. The U.S. dollar was lower against other major currencies. Gold prices dropped.

In company news, Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, fell 14 cents to $59.71 after its forecast today that the company's spending on oil and gas drilling, refining and chemicals manufacturing would rise from about $18 billion now to almost $20 billion a year between 2007 and 2010.

Google fell $10.57, or 2.9 percent, to $353.88 after it mistakenly posted an internal financial forecast on its Web site. The projections included a reference to management's concerns about the online search engine leader's profits narrowing amid tougher competition.

The New York Stock Exchange went public today after closing its $10 billion acquisition of electronic rival Archipelago Holdings Inc. yesterday. The new NYSE Group Inc., trading under ticker symbol NYX, rose $15.75, or 25 percent, to $80 a share in its first day of trading. Going public will help the exchange expand into new businesses, such as derivatives trading, and could fund acquisitions as well. Archipelago closed at $64.25 today, its last day as a stand-alone company.

Electricity producer Dynegy Inc. posted a profit in the fourth quarter, reversing a year-ago loss, but it lowered its financial targets for 2006. Its stock fell 17 cents to $4.78 after it forecast a loss of $65 million to $130 million for the year, versus a prior range of $5 million to $75 million.

Preliminary consolidated volume on the NYSE came to 2.53 billion shares, up from 2.33 billion at the same time yesterday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.78, or 0.11 percent, to 721.84.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.63 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.76 percent, Germany's DAX index lost 1.15 percent, and France's CAC