Wall Street pulls off a winner

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wall Street endured a wild market ride Wednesday, but stocks finished higher as investors shrugged off credit and housing market jitters.

The Dow Jones industrial average (up 62.84 to 13,779.79, Charts) finished 66 points higher, or nearly 0.5 percent, based on early tallies, after climbing more than 100 points near the open but giving up those gains and turning lower in the afternoon.

The ups and downs came a day after the index of 30 blue chips tumbled 226 points, its third biggest point loss of the year, on worries about housing weakness and the nation's credit markets.

The broader S&P 500 (up 9.95 to 1,520.99, Charts) climbed nearly 0.5 percent and the tech-laden Nasdaq (up 6.56 to 2,646.42, Charts) gained 0.3 percent.

Oil prices surged above $75 a barrel Wednesday U.S. light crude soared $2.32 to $75.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Treasury prices were little changed, leaving the yield on the 10-year note at 4.91 percent from late Tuesday.

The dollar gained against the euro and the yen.

Here's what was moving before the bell:

Upbeat results from online retailer Amazon.com helped send stocks higher at the open. Amazon reported profits more than tripled and raised its 2007 sales and earnings outlook. Amazon (up $16.93 to $86.18, Charts, Fortune 500) shares soared over 24 percent on the Nasdaq.

But investors' enthusiasm cooled after the National Association of Realtors said that the pace existing home sales fell more than expected in June.

News that private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management was experiencing difficulties tapping debt markets for $20 billion needed for the purchase of Chrysler fanned credit market fears, also pressuring stocks.

"I don't think that news regarding the Chrysler buyout financing did anything to make people feel any better," said Michael James, senior trader at Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles. "We certainly made a lot of that back but you're operating under an extremely volatile situation right now."

Countrywide Financial (down $0.63 to $29.87, Charts, Fortune 500), the nation's largest mortgage lender, helped spark a fresh round of housing worries Tuesday when it said the recent subprime mortgage meltdown has begun to spread to prime-rate loans. Its CEO also said a housing downturn would probably drag into 2009.

In other economic news Wednesday, the Fed issued its so-called Beige Book, which measures economic conditions around the country, revealing modest economic growth in the United States, but further declines in home building and real estate in most regions.

On the earnings front, Dow component Boeing (up $3.57 to $107.37, Charts, Fortune 500) posted much better-than-expected earnings, lifting its shares more than 3 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

The third largest U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips (up $2.30 to $84.63, Charts, Fortune 500) reported lower results that were solidly better than expected when excluding charges related to its Venezuelan operations. Consumer products maker Colgate-Palmolive (up $1.16 to $69.41, Charts, Fortune 500) also posted earnings that topped estimates.

Beer maker Anheuser-Busch (up $0.68 to $49.80, Charts, Fortune 500) reported higher quarterly profits Wednesday, helped by higher prices, sending its shares up over 1 percent.

Shares of Corning (down $1.43 to $24.76, Charts, Fortune 500), the world's largest maker of fiber optic cable, tumbled over 5 percent after the company reported lower quarterly profits, hurt by weaker-than-expected sales.

Apple (up $2.74 to $137.63, Charts, Fortune 500) is set to report after the market close. Its shares lost 6 percent Tuesday after AT&T revealed it activated a relatively small number of iPhones in the first 30 hours after the device went on sale - 146,000. iPhones come with AT&T (up $0.85 to $40.53, Charts, Fortune 500) wireless service.

Market breadth was negative. Losers beat winners by 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange on volume of 2 billion shares. Decliners topped advancers on the Nasdaq by 5 to 4 on volume of 2.5 billion shares.