U.S. stocks swayed between slender gains and losses on Tuesday as a round of lackluster economic data weighed on the market, but a weaker dollar boosted energy and materials stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7 points at 11562 in recent trading.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% to 2660. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index edged down less than one point to 1257.

The day's cluster of weaker-than-expected data included an index of consumer confidence from the Conference Board, a private research group, that fell to 52.5 in December, below the 57.0 reading expected by economists.

While traders were surprised by the report, some said early holiday shopping figures were a better indication that consumer spending is recovering.

"It appears that there's a disconnect between the consumer confidence index and the reality of what's occurring out there," said Joe Heider, principal at Rehmann, citing encouraging recent retail sales figures.

Still, consumer discretionary stocks slid in the data's wake. Toy-maker Hasbro lost 2.1%, while fast-food company Yum Brands fell 1.1% and Limited Brands, operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, shed 1.2%.

In bleak news for the housing market, the S&P Case-Shiller home-price indexes reported U.S. home prices declined 1.2% in October from September in 10 major metropolitan areas, while the 20-city index fell 1.3%. The 20-city index fell 0.8% from a year earlier, more than the 0.6% decline economists had predicted. Homebuilders slid, including D.R. Horton, off 2.1%, PulteGroup, down 1.9% and Lennar, which fell 0.9%.

In one bright spot, economic activity among manufacturers in the central Atlantic region expanded at a rapid clip this month, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The service sector also showed great improvement.

"The drop in consumer confidence is unexpected and could raise some doubts in the market, but on the other side we're also impressed by the pickup in Richmond index," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Investments. "There are clearly a lot of headwinds facing the global recovery but on balance, the U.S. economy should enter 2011 on a fairly good foot."

Trading volume is expected to be light this week and Monday's trading saw the year's lightest volume of any full session. In a week traditionally light due to holiday vacations, the Northeast continued to dig out of a snowstorm that dumped more than 20 inches of snow on New York City. By mid-day on Tuesday, just under 1 billion shares had traded hands in New York Stock Exchange Composite volume. The 2010 average for a full-day sesssion is around 4.8 billion shares.

Metals and mining stocks rebounded after dipping Monday in the wake of China's interest-rate hikes and benefited on Tuesday from a weaker dollar. Titanium Metals gained 2.2%, Newmont Mining climbed 2.7% and United States Steel rose 0.8%.

An unexpected decline in a closely-watched gauge of U.S. consumer confidence weighed on stocks Tuesday even though it did little to dampen expectations that the U.S. economic recovery is picking up steam.

The Conference Board reported that its main consumer confidence index fell to 52.5 in December from an upwardly revised 54.3 the previous month amid ongoing concerns over jobs. The decline was unexpected — the consensus in the markets was for the index to push up to 56.

Though stock markets in both Europe and the U.S. pushed lower following the survey, the response was fairly muted because the it contrasted with the general thrust of recent economic data out of the U.S., especially after the agreement between the Obama administration and the Republicans in Congress to extend due-to-expire tax cuts.

"We expect an uptrend in consumer spirits to remain in place for the foreseeable future," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc.

In Europe, France's CAC-40 was barely a point lower at 3,861.32 while Germany's DAX was around 9 points lower at 6,961.85. British markets were closed for a holiday.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 7.27 points at 11,547.76 soon after the open while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell less than a point to 1,256.86.

Aside from the state of the U.S. economy, investors continued to evaluate the effects of China's decision over the weekend to raise its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.81 percent — its second increase in just over two months.

Federal prosecutors have charged a former Chicago man of swindling nearly $8 million from more than 50 victims who were led to believe they were buying specially discounted stock in a number of well-known companies, including Google Inc., and Facebook Inc.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago says 39-year-old Randy Cho, now of Newton, Mass., was charged Monday with one count of wire fraud and one count of filing a false federal income tax return. The office says Cho will be arraigned at a later date, and did not say whether he had an attorney.

Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, says Cho styled himself as a self-employed securities trader while running the alleged swindle from locations in Chicago, Seattle, Boston, and Newton.

Shareholders of The St. Joe Company ("St. Joe" or the "Company") (NYSE:JOE) are reminded of the securities class action lawsuit filed against St. Joe and certain of its officers. The class action (Civil Action No.: 10-cv-0504) pending in the Northern District of Florida is on behalf of a class of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired St. Joe securities, including purchasers and sellers of options during the period from February 19, 2008 through October 12, 2010, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The Complaint alleges violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.

The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) as the Florida real estate market was in decline, St. Joe was failing to take adequate and required impairments and accounting write-downs on many of its Florida based property developments; (2) as a result, St. Joe's financial statements materially overvalued the Company's Florida based property developments; (3) the Company's financial statements were not prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles; (4) the Company lacked adequate internal and financial controls; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, the Company's financial statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On October 13, 2010, David Einhorn ("Einhorn") of Greenlight Capital Inc. detailed the need of the Company to take "substantial impairments" and accounting writedowns on many of its properties, and warned that further building by the Company would drive the stock price to zero. Einhorn's presentation noted that St. Joe's "development plans have fallen flat, leaving it with 'ghost towns' and inevitable writedowns." For example, Einhorn said he would "generously" place a value of $17.8 million on the remaining residential development at St. Joe's Windmark Beach property, while the Company is carrying the property at $164.5 million on its balance sheet. Einhorn also stated that the Company "was 'stuck' after making an aggressive bet on beachfront developments that have gone nowhere, and that it was overvaluing the real estate holdings on its books."

Ernst & Young LLP may be sued for fraud as early as today by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for allegedly helping Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. mislead investors, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Cuomo will be sworn in as governor on Jan. 1. The suit would relate to Ernst & Young’s audits of Lehman financial statements aimed at downplaying its liabilities, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the case. The fraud suit would be brought under the state’s Martin Act, said the person, adding that a settlement is possible.

Richard Bamberger, a spokesman for Cuomo’s office, declined to comment. Charles Perkins, a spokesman for Ernst & Young, declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal said earlier today a lawsuit might be filed this week.

Lehman, once the fourth-largest investment bank, failed in September 2008 because of risky real estate bets and too much debt including Repo 105 trades, which it tried to hide from investors, according to bankruptcy examiner Anton Valukas’s report. Valukas, in the report, said Ernst & Young could be accused of “professional malpractice” for its role as auditor.

Repo 105 transactions are a form of short-term financing that Valukas said Lehman used to move as much as $50 billion off its balance sheet temporarily to show investors it wasn’t carrying too much debt.