U.S. stocks turned positive on Monday as a drop in oil prices offset disappointing company earnings, including Dow component 3M Co., which missed Wall Street's target for the first time in nearly four years. U.S. crude futures fell more than $1.60 a barrel on Monday, dipping below $54 for the first time since Thursday amid profit-taking after an overnight rally to record highs. "In the last half hour we've got a pretty good rally, and I think it's probably because oil is trading down 2 percent. When it tends to trade down, we get stocks trading up," said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Legg Mason Wood Walker. Lofty oil prices can impact company earnings and dampen consumer confidence. Crude set new highs above $55 a barrel earlier on Monday, led by record-breaking heating oil prices on fears of a winter supply crunch. But by midday oil was down $1.73 at $53.20. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 11.88 points, or 0.12 percent, at 9,945.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 5.24 points, or 0.47 percent, at 1,113.44. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 20.10 points, or 1.05 percent, at 1,931.60. American International Group Inc., which fell nearly 14 percent last week after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer levied fraud charges at big insurers, was also helping drive the Dow Jones industrial average higher. --More 2214 Local Time 1914 GMT
