NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks mustered tiny gains Wednesday in a choppy, volatile session as investors managed to shake off a jump of nearly 6 percent in oil prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 15.00 to 10,691.45, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 2.34 to 1,205.72, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (up 2.70 to 2,162.55, Charts) all ended the session just above unchanged.

Stocks had spent the morning in higher territory as investors eyed a Sprint-Nextel $36 billion merger and higher-than-expected earnings from Lehman Brothers, Best Buy and Lennar.

But any advance was challenged in the afternoon by a spike in oil prices and the impact of Friday's options expirations.

Friday is a "quadruple witching" day, a quarterly event in which stock index futures and options as well as individual stock futures and options, all expire at the same time.

This tends to create increased volatility in the underlying stocks in the days leading up to it, as investors either exercise their options or move them forward.

"We're in a seasonal period that can be kind of choppy," said John Hughes, market analyst at Shields & Co. "Add to that yesterday's Fed rate hike and the options expirations, and you can see this kind of movement."

However, he said that as the fundamentals remain positive, stocks should be able to continue gaining through the end of the year.

Stocks rose Tuesday after the Federal Reserve boosted short-term interest rates by a quarter-percentage point, as expected, and said it could continue to raise rates at a measured pace.

Thursday brings a number of economic and earnings reports.

FedEx (down $0.75 to $98.75, Research) and Goldman Sachs (down $0.63 to $109.25, Research) report earnings before the open. FedEx likely earned $1.27 per share, up from 87 cents a year ago. Goldman Sachs likely earned $2.30 per share, up from $1.89 a year ago.

Also due before the open: reports on housing starts, building permits, weekly jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed index.

Housing starts are expected to have fallen to a 1.98 million unit annual rate in November from a 2.027 million unit rate in October, according to Briefing.com estimates. Building permits likely fell to a 2.010 million unit annual rate in November from a 2.018 million unit rate in October.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week is expected to have fallen to 342,000 from 357,000 the week before.

The Philadelphia Fed, which looks at manufacturing in the midwest likely fell to 20.5 in December from 20.7 in November.

Sprint will buy Nextel in a cash and stock deal worth about $36 billion, the two wireless carriers said Wednesday, confirming speculation raised in the past week. Shares of both Sprint (down $1.08 to $24.02, Research) and Nextel (down $1.29 to $28.70, Research) declined.

It was the latest big deal in a week heavy on mergers and merger talk, a trend that has been supporting the market, even amid the pull to consolidate after the six-week rally.

Lehman Brothers (up $2.25 to $87.90, Research) said it earned $1.96 per share, up from $1.71 per share a year earlier, and well above the $1.69 per share that analysts surveyed by First Call were expecting. The investment bank attributed the results to continued strength in its fixed-income businesses and strong investment banking revenue.

The stock gained 2.6 percent.

Best Buy (up $2.82 to $58.86, Research) reported earnings of 45 cents per share, up from 37 cents a year earlier and a penny more than what analysts surveyed by First Call were expecting. The electronics retailer cited improved sales and said it gained market share from its competitors.

Shares rose 5 percent.

Lennar (up $5.52 to $56.35, Research) reported quarterly earnings of $2.29 per share, up from $1.69 a year earlier and above analysts' estimates. The No. 3 U.S. home builder also boosted its earnings forecast for fiscal 2005.

The Dow Jones Home Construction (up $41.63 to $807.15, Research) index rose 5.4 percent.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners 11 to 5 on volume of 1.69 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, winners topped losers 9 to 7 on volume of 2.35 billion shares.

U.S. light crude oil for January delivery surged $2.37 to settle at $44.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following the weekly oil inventory data. In particular, traders focused on distillate fuel, which was unchanged, versus expectations for a rise of 1.0 million barrels.

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Adding some support was a higher-than-expected NY Empire State index. The regional read on manufacturing rose to 29.9 in December from 19.76 in November. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought it would rise to 20.

Treasury prices rose. The 10-year note gained 13/32 of a point in price, pushing its yield down to 4.07 percent from 4.12 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency markets, the dollar tumbled versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold rallied $4.90 to settle at $442.20 an ounce, rising with other dollar-traded commodities.