By msnbc.com staff and wire
Stocks ended mixed Tuesday despite early gains bolstered in part by a report showing that consumer confidence rebounded in November.
Previously consumer confidence was at a 2-1/2 year low. It was the highest level since July.
Strong retail sales over the Thanksgiving weekend helped to reassure investors that the U.S. economy might be sputtering back to life, said Quincy Krosby, market strategist for Prudential Financial.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 32.62 higher, or 0.28 percent, to 11,555.63. The S&P 500 rose 2.65, or 0.22 percent, to 1,195.19; and the Nasdaq finished 11.83 lower, or 0.47percent, to 2,515.51.
At its peak the S&P had been up 1.9 percent just after 10 a.m. Eastern following the release of the confidence report.
"Consumers appear to be entering the holiday season in better spirits, though overall readings remain historically weak," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. The center tracks the confidence gauge.
Consumers' labor market assessment improved. The number of respondents that said they found "jobs hard to get" eased to 42.1 percent from 46.9 percent, while the "jobs plentiful" index rose to 5.8 percent from 3.6 percent.
Consumers also felt better about price increases with expectations for inflation in the coming 12 months falling to 5.5 percent from 5.8 percent.
Acting with new urgency, Europe's finance ministers were considering wide-ranging plans for protecting the region's financial system and shared currency from collapse. Many of those ideas would have been off-limits only recently, including having countries cede some control over their finances to a central European authority.
In the latest sign of trouble, Italy was forced to pay an excruciatingly high interest rate on an auction of three-year debt Tuesday. Demand was strong, but the 7.89 percent rate was nearly three percentage points higher than last month, an enormous increase.
The ease with which the auction was able to raise 7.49 billion euros ($10 billion) was a good sign, said Krosby. "But it's still worrisome that those yields are past the point which a week ago would have terrified global markets."
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report.
