4:30 pm : Despite plenty of potential catalysts for trade, the broader stock market lacked direction for the second straight session. Natural resource plays showed considerable strength, though.

Participants got a glimpse into the government's official nonfarm payrolls report, which is due Friday, via the latest ADP Employment Report. The ADP report stated that 84,000 jobs were lost in December, down from 145,000 job losses in November. Still, the December tally was a bit more than the 75,000 that many had expected.

The December ISM Service Index improved to 50.1 from the 48.7 that was registered in November. Though the latest index suggested that activity made a modest pick up, since it was above the 50 that delineates expansion from contraction, it was still a bit below the 50.5 that economists, on average, had forecast.

Neither the ADP report nor the ISM reading caused much of a stir among participants.

Reactions were also muted to the latest FOMC meeting minutes, which indicated that some members think more stimulus might become desirable. That did put pressure on the dollar, though; the dollar shed 0.2% against a basket of foreign currencies.

The dollar's drop provided an extra boon to commodities and gave the CRB Commodity Index a 1.5% gain. Oil prices climbed 1.7% to finish pit trade at $83.18 per barrel. Prices had been up as high as $83.52 per barrel, a fresh 52-week high. More impressive, though, is that the high came after oil prices rallied from a modest loss, which was induced by news that crude oil inventories for the week that ended January 1 increased by 1.33 million barrels. The consensus had called for a 1 million barrel draw.