NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 ended a volatile session higher on Tuesday, helped by strong earnings from Merck and gains in IBM after it boosted its dividend, while the Nasdaq fell with Apple.
Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 72.83 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,110.8, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 5.98 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,114.9 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 4.82 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,055.42.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
