Up and down, down and up. The same old story on Wall Street played out Wednesday as investors waited it out for Thursday’s news from the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday, as well as U.S. jobs data Friday.

The result of all the tap dancing? Another mixed bag. The Dow Jones managed to eke out a fractional gain to close at 13,047, while the S&P 500 lost 0.11% to 1,403 and the Nasdaq fell 0.19% to 3,069. Otherwise, earnings and forecasts moved the day.

Both Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) and Office Max (NYSE:OMX) reiterated earnings and revenue forecasts for the year — the net result was better for ODP, which soared 19% while OMX was left up just 2%. Sectormate Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) also saw a gain, rising just more than 2% on the news.

Discount retailer Dollar General (NYSE:DG) reported strong earnings and revenue growth and an optimistic outlook for the remainder of the year, yet only rose less than 1% on the day.

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) did not fare quite as well, falling 2% after once again warning investors of tough times ahead. FDX said it expects to post a year-over-year decline in quarterly earnings for the first time since November 2009.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) pulled itself up off the floor, rising nearly 5% as CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced he would not sell any of his 444 million-share stake in the company for at least one year, and other insiders indicated they would only sell shares for tax reasons. Meanwhile, social stock LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) rose 5.5% on no particular news.

Speaking of no particular news, Disney (NYSE:DIS) rose 2.6% to touch a new 52-week high before settling down with a 2.2% gain to lead all gainers on the Dow. While Disney did announce it would make apps for Nokia (NYSE:NOK) smartphones, it’s hard to imagine much positivity was gleaned from that, considering Nokia’s Wednesday flop after a glitch-filled Lumia reveal.

Thursday’s earnings reports are fairly slim, with home builder Hovnanian (NYSE:HOV) and retailer Talbots (NYSE:TLB) the headliners.

Three Up

• Guidewire (NYSE:GWRE): Up 9.9% ($2.90) to $32.25. (read more here)
• Conn’s (NASDAQ:CONN): Up 8.1% ($1.94) to $25.89.
• RadioShack (NYSE:RSH): Up 7.5% (19 cents) to $2.72.

Three Down

• Francesca’s (NASDAQ:FRAN): Down 17.1% ($6.15) to $29.92. (read more here)
• Leapfrog (NYSE:LF): Down 6.1% (65 cents) to $10.06.
• NuStar Energy (NYSE:NS): Down 4.55% ($2.32) to $48.66.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.