US indexes turn higher, helped by phone company stocks

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks turned slightly higher in mid-afternoon trading Tuesday, helped by shares of telecommunications companies such as Verizon and AT&T, while the rest of the market remained mostly flat.

A rally in oil prices petered out after four days of gains driven by OPEC's deal to cut production next year.

While oil prices were solidly lower, energy companies were trading mostly flat to only slightly lower.

AT&T was up on reports that its newly launched DirectTV Now service was attracting more subscribers than anticipated, while Verizon shares rose as the company sold a group of data centers for $3.6 billion.

Chipotle Mexican Grill fell $29.00, or 7.3 percent, to $367.64 after the company's CEO said he was "nervous" about hitting full-year forecasts and that the company's turnaround is going slower than expected.

Italy's stock market jumped 4.2 percent, a day after slipping in the wake of the failure of a constitutional referendum that forced the resignation of that country's premier.