Stocks Pause as Traders Balance Data, News

 Stocks Pause as Traders Balance Data, News

SEOOKE.com: The markets were little changed Tuesday as traders mulled mixed news on the global economy and developments in the eurozone debt crisis. 

Today's Markets

As of 12:36 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 16.9 points, or 0.13%, to 12950, the S&P 500 rose 0.12 point, or 0.01%, to 1406 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.1 points, or 0.07%, to 2979. 

The European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund negotiated for weeks in a bid to agree on a Greek debt deal. An agreement finally came late Monday night. The group agreed to several measures to help Greece make its fiscal targets in coming decades. The actions included lowering the interest rate the country needs to pay on its loans, raising the debt-to-GDP target to 124% by 2020 from 120% and extending the maturity on certain loans. "Taken together, these measures will help to bring back Greece’s debt ratio to a sustainable path and facilitate a gradual return to market financing," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement. 

"The global economy is expected to make a hesitant and uneven recovery over the coming two years," the group said in a statement accompanying the report. "Decisive policy action is needed to ensure that stalemate over fiscal policy in the United States and continuing euro area instability do not plunge the world back into recession." 

Economists also mulled several important economic reports.

Orders for long-lasting goods remained flat in October from September. Economists were expecting a 0.5% drop.

Home prices in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas climbed 0.3% in September from August on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, according to the closely-watched S&P/Case-Shiller report. Economists expected a slightly larger increase of 0.5%. The Conference Board's gauge of consumer confidence rose in November to 73.7 from 73.1 in October, topping estimates of 73 and marking the highest level since February 2008. The important holiday shopping season is just kicking off, and economists will be looking to see how various factors, including fiscal uncertainty, are affecting consumer confidence. 

In corporate news, ConAgra Foods (CAG) unveiled plans to buy Ralcorp (RAH), the largest U.S. private label food manufacturer, for $90 per share in cash. In commodities markets, oil futures climbed mildly. The benchmark contract gained 25 cents, or 0.28%, to $87.99 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline rose 0.25% to $2.733 a gallon. 

Gold slipped $1.50, or 0.09%, to $1,748 a troy ounce.