DOW

12,632.91 -20.81  -0.16%

By: JeeYeon Park

CNBC.com Writer

Stocks came off their worst levels but still finished narrowly mixed Tuesday, after a handful of disappointing economic news weighed on the market. Despite the session's lackluster performance, the Dow and S&P are still posted their best January since 1997.

In addition, all three major averages logged their best monthly gains since October.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 20.81 points, or 0.16 percent, to finish at 12632.91

The S&P 500 slipped 0.60 points, or 0.05 percent, to end at 1,312.41. The Nasdaq squeezed out a gain of 1.90 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 2813.84.

The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, ended near 19.

For the month, the Dow rallied 3.4 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 4.36 percent, and the Nasdaq surged 8.01 percent.


Interestingly, the last five times the S&P logged a gain of more than 4 percent in January, the index posted a robust annual average gain of 23 percent.