Wall St stuck in neutral on poor data

New York - US stocks closed near the flatline on Tuesday after the release of data showing continuing weakness in home prices and slumping consumer confidence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.81 points to end the day at 12 632.91.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.90 points to 2 813.84, while the S&P 500, a broader measure of the markets, slipped 0.61 point to 1 312.40.

Stocks erased opening gains on hopes that a Greek debt deal was imminent after a new batch of economic data came in worse than expected.

"Stock prices turned mixed as disappointing housing and consumer confidence readings weighed on shares," said James Bohnaker at Moody's Analytics.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 61.1 in January from 64.8 a month earlier, showing a turn lower in Americans' hopes for a rebound in the economy.

"Regarding the short-term outlook, consumers are more upbeat about employment, but less optimistic about business conditions and their income prospects," said the board's Lynn Franco

Meanwhile the S&P-Case Shiller Index on home prices across the country fell for the fifth straight month in November, despite record-low interest rates on home loans that analysts hoped would help the sector rebound.

Still, the major indices closed the first month of 2012 scoring solid gains: the Dow was up 3.40% for the month, the Nasdaq 8.01% and the S&P 500 4.36%.

For the day, the Dow blue chips were led by American Express, up 2.1%, United Technologies, up 1.0% and Bank of America, up 0.9%.

Dow component ExxonMobil, which slightly beat analyst forecasts in its fourth-quarter earnings, slid 2.1%.

Pfizer shares slipped 0.8% after topping forecasts for fourth-quarter earnings per share, even as the company took a hit on the loss of exclusivity on its blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor.

The Nasdaq got a boost from a robust 5.0% share gain from toymaker Mattel, which turned in a solid fourth quarter that topped expectations.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.80% from 1.84% on Monday, while the 30-year slipped to 2.93% from 2.98% on Monday.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.