NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market ended an uncertain day mostly lower after the price of oil took another plunge. Stronger profits at Disney pushed its stock higher, giving the Dow Jones industrial average a small lift.

Major indexes headed lower at the opening bell, as a drop in crude oil tugged energy stocks down. The Standard & Poor's 500 index recovered its losses by midday, meandered through the afternoon, then swung from a solid gain to a slight loss in the final hour of trading.

"I think there's a sense of uneasiness and lack of conviction among investors right now," said Terry Sandven, senior equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. "You see that in the split personality of the market."

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 8.52 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,041.51.

The Dow edged up 6.62 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 17,673.02 and the Nasdaq sank 11.03 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,716.70.

Over the previous six trading days, the market turned in three gains and three losses. Sandven said rising uncertainty over corporate earnings has helped drive the volatility. Falling oil prices and a stronger dollar have pinched companies' profits, forcing investors to second-guess their expectations.

Late Tuesday, Walt Disney reported that strong results from theme parks, television channels and selling merchandise tied to its "Frozen" movie drove quarterly earnings up 19 percent. Disney's profit and revenue trounced Wall Street's estimates for the quarter, and its stock surged $7.18, or 8 percent, to $101.28, an all-time high.

Bob Iger, Disney's CEO, said the company was not seeing a hit to attendance from the measles outbreak linked last month to Disney's Southern California parks.

Ralph Lauren's stock lost $31.12, or 18 percent, to $139.71, after the retailer reported a drop in quarterly earnings and slashed its sales forecast for the full year. The company spent more to open new stores while revenue stayed nearly flat, held back by a stronger dollar.

The fourth-quarter earnings season now looks better than it did just two weeks ago. Nearly three out of four big companies have turned in higher profits than analysts had expected, putting overall earnings on track to rise nearly 7 percent for the quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ. Two weeks ago, the expected increase was just 4 percent.

A recent rebound in oil prices fizzled out Wednesday as the benchmark contract for U.S. crude fell $4.60, or 8.7 percent, to settle at $48.45 a barrel in New York. The drop came after the U.S. government reported an increase in crude inventories last week.

Oil had rallied over the previous four days as traders speculated that low prices would force more energy companies to curtail exploration and production. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, declined $3.75, or 6.5 percent, to close at $54.16 a barrel in London.

Major markets in Europe ended mixed. France's CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent and Germany's DAX edged up 0.2 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 closed with a loss of 0.2 percent.

In the U.S., Staples announced that it's buying Office Depot for $6 billion in a widely anticipated merger of the two largest office supply retailers. The cash-and-stock deal comes a little more than a year after Office Depot merged with OfficeMax and still needs approval from regulators. Staples dropped $2.28, or 12 percent, to $16.73.

Prices wavered in the market for U.S. government bonds, leaving the yield on the 10-year Treasury note at 1.79 percent, the same as late Tuesday.

In the commodity markets, gold rose $4.20 to $1,264.50 an ounce, while silver rose seven cents to $17.40 an ounce. Copper edged up a penny to $2.59 a pound.

In other futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange:

— Wholesale gasoline fell 12 cents to $1.482 a gallon.

— Heating oil fell 8 cents to close at $1.767 a gallon.

— Natural gas fell 9.2 cents to close at $2.662 per 1,000 cubic feet.