U.S. stocks waver amid Beige Book, earnings reports

U.S. stocks fluctuated narrowly for the week, as Wall Street digested the Federal Reserve's Beige Book and a batch of corporate earnings reports.

On Monday, U.S. stocks ended mildly lower as investors digested remarks from the U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks rebounded after wavering in a tight range, as Wall Street cheered over a batch of generally positive quarterly earnings reports.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks extended gains as investors meditated on the Fed's Beige Book for more clues on the timing of a next rate hike.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks retreated as a sharp decline in oil prices weighed on the market.

On Friday, U.S. stocks closed mixed after swinging narrowly as investors digested remarks from the Fed official amid corporate earnings reports.

U.S. economic activity continues to expand at a modest to moderate pace from late August through early October, with most districts expecting positive outlook, the Fed's Beige Book showed on Wednesday.

Remarks from the U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer were also in focus. In a speech at the Economic Club of New York on Monday, Fischer suggested that low rates can lead to longer and deeper recessions, making the economy more vulnerable.

He added they can also threaten financial stability, although the evidence so far doesn't show a heightened threat of instability.

A batch of notable companies reported quarterly results in the week as earnings season heated up. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Netflix and Microsoft all posted better-than-expected quarterly results, while Verizon, BlackRock and General Electric delivered mixed quarterly earnings reports.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the third quarter of 2016 are expected to rise 1.1 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 2.5 percent.

Overseas, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided Thursday neither to change its key interests for the euro area, nor to extend its monthly asset purchase program of 80 billion euros (about 88 billion U.S. dollars) beyond March 2017.

On the economic front, U.S. industrial production edged up 0.1 percent in September after falling 0.5 percent in August.

The Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers increased 0.3 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, on par with market consensus. Over the last 12 months, the all-items index rose 1.5 percent before seasonal adjustment.

In the week ending Oct. 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 260,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level.

U.S. privately-owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.047 million units. This is 9.0 percent below the revised August estimate of 1.150 million units, and is 11.9 percent below the September 2015 rate of 1.189 million units.

For the week, the Dow edged up 0.04 percent, and the S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent, while the Nasdaq gained 0.8 percent. Endit