News flow was quiet Tuesday in what was a generally lackluster day in global markets.  In the U.S., strength in corporate multinational earnings did not have the same effect as it had in the previous week or two, as a drop in consumer confidence raised fears about the economy once more.  Stocks stalled with a 0.1% drop in the S&P 500 and 0.4% on the NASDAQ exchange.

• The Conference Board's report that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 50.4 from June's revised reading of 54.3 distracted investors from another batch of upbeat earnings reports. The market had expected the index to come in at 51.
• Consumer confidence has fallen in recent months as people have waited in vain for a turnaround in the job market. That has made many consumers hesitant to spend and in turn raised concerns about the economic recovery. Most retail stocks fell after the confidence number was released.
• Chemical maker DuPont on Tuesday joined the growing number of big corporations that have raised their earnings forecasts.   Investors have been torn over the past few months between buying on companies' upbeat reports and selling on government and private sector numbers that keep pointing to a slowing of the economy.

This pull-push between U.S. multinationals thriving on Asian growth while cutting labor costs to the bone, versus the weakening domestic economic data has been the nexus of the bull-bear debate in the market the past few weeks.

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Bond prices finally cleared 3% on the 10 year, with a close of 3.05%.  Oil prices weakened on the economic data, falling $1.48 to finish at $77.50.  Gold suffered a rough session, falling $21 to $1162 while silver fell 57 cents (-3.2%)  to $17.62.

• Gold prices tumbled Tuesday to their lowest levels in three months as European financial concerns dissipated.  "There's been a lot of selling with the recovery in the euro," Steel said
• The drop in gold was exacerbated by automatic sell orders investors often put in place to minimize losses, said James Steel, an analyst with HSBC in New York. The sell-off picked up once prices hit $1,185 an ounce and triggered the sales.  Volume was also light, which can exaggerate moves.

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Major European banks including UBS AG and Deutsche Bank reported strong earnings, which led to some strength overseas. Britain rallied 0.3%, Germany 0.2%, and France 0.8%.

• German consumer confidence increased, boosted by expectations that a quicker economic recovery will keep unemployment in check.  Germany's GfK institute said its forward-looking overall indicator for August rose to 3.9 points, its highest level since November 2009.

Asian stocks were likewise quiet, with mixed action as India's central bank once more raised interest rates.  Losses in Japan (-0.1%) and China (-0.5%) were offset by gains in India (+0.3%) and Hong Kong (+0.6%).

• India's central bank hiked key interest rates more than expected to combat rising prices and raised its growth and inflation forecasts for the year. The Reserve Bank of India hiked the repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 5.75%.
• China’s central bank said today a slowdown in growth will likely stabilize, helping the nation avoid a slump during the second half of the year.

The Brazilian Bovespa rallied for the 7th day in a row, gaining 0.4%.

• Brazilian bank lending rose for the 16th straight month in June, expanding 19.7% from a year earlier to 1.53 trillion reais ($864.8 billion), according to the central bank.