Stocks swung back into positive territory yesterday afternoon in a see-saw session as investors weighed nagging worries about the corporate profit picture against hopes that the end of the meltdown was near.

Major market gauges fell at the open after a slew of profit warnings from tech firms, including telecommunications gear maker Tellabs and German chipmaker Infineon hit Wall Street, but then bounced into and out of positive territory.

Investors were struggling to look past the barrage of bad news and focus on the end of the profit warning season in a few days and expectations for another interest-rate cut at the Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting next week, said Robert Stovall, analyst at Prudential Securities.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 38.points at 2,0131.16. The technology-heavy index broke a seven-session losing streak on Tuesday.

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average was up 50.66 points at 10,647.33, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 10.55 points at 1,223.