Dow starts February with more swings, 37-point gain after a strong start to the year

The Dow started February with another day of up-and-down action but finished with a small gain as the recent turbulence on Wall Street persisted after a long period of calm and big, record-setting gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which on Thursday was down 135 points in the morning and up 157 points in the afternoon, closed up 37.32 points, or 0.14%, at 26,186.71.

It has been a wild week for the Dow. The blue-chip stock gauge rebounded Wednesday with a 73-point gain in a volatile day, following a 540-point plunge over the first two days of the week, its worst back-to-back decline since the middle of 2016.

More: 401(k) investors: Is a 'melt-up' happening in the stock market?

More: A year into the Trump presidency 401(k) balances are looking good

Investors in recent days have been spooked by rising interest rates and a feeling that the market has gone up too much in a short period of time, and may be due for a pullback.

Wall Street is also parsing incoming earnings results from an array of U.S. companies. 

The Dow is up 5.9% in 2018 and 1.6% below its recent peak -- after climbing 25.1% last year. 

It hasn't suffered a 5% drop, the common definition of a "pullback," since June 2016, when the Brexit vote rocked markets.

Despite the recent price drops in the stock market, the broad market rose 5.6% in January, its best start to a year since 1997.