NEW YORK – About halfway through first-quarter earnings reports, Wall Street still isn’t sure where the economy is headed.

The Dow Jones industrials closed Thursday with a late gain of about 71 points, or 0.9 percent, but only after another day of shaky, back-and-forth trading. It was almost the exact opposite of Wednesday’s pattern, when stocks waffled throughout the day and then sank late in the afternoon.

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