CDS spreads on Constellation Brands rallied 24% over the past three months, compared to 9% tightening for the broader sector. 'Credit markets are likely responding to Constellation's announcement that it will be selling some of its businesses and using proceeds to pay down its outstanding debt,' said Author and managing Director Jonathan Di Giambattista. CDS liquidity, however, ticked up one rank to trade in the ninth regional percentile. The markets are still uncertain to a large extent over Constellation's future performance,' said Di Giambattista.

Elsewhere, while KB Home has staged a rally of its own, with CDS spreads tightening 14% over the past three months and credit risk continuing to price in line with 'B' levels. However, ongoing housing market weakness is resulting in still-high CDS liquidity, with KB Home moving up to the 13th regional percentile.

U.S. stocks edged lower Tuesday, as grocers weighed on the market in the wake of a broad downgrade, but an unexpected rise in factory orders kept the losses in check.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recently shed 7 points, or 0.1%, to 11664, one day after closing at a 28-month high.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% to 2680. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 0.3% to 1268.

Traders said the market's moves will likely be modest until 2 p.m. EST, when the U.S. Federal Reserve releases the minutes from its latest meeting.

Investors are very focused on the macro-economic environment right now, said Russell Croft, co-manager of the Croft Value Fund.

"A lot of strategists and chief investment officers out there seem pretty positive for the stock market this year," he said. But "it's one thing to say you're bullish and it's another to see people act on it," he said.

Food retailers in the S&P 500 fell Tuesday after Bank of Montreal downgraded Safeway, Vitamin Shoppe, and Whole Foods to marketperform from outperform, noting limited upside. Shares of Safeway fell 3.9%, Vitamin Shoppe was off 4.9% and Whole Foods shed 3.3%. BMO also reduced its estimates for Supervalu, noting the chain's inability to drive traffic, and Kroger, saying the fiscal year 2011 consensus could be too high given the challenging environment. Supervalu tumbled 8.5%, while Kroger lost 2%.

Morgan Stanley also cut Safeway and Supervalu to underweight from equalweight, noting Supervalu's strategy to reduce prices will collide with inflationary food costs.

However, the market pared steeper earlier declines after the Commerce Department reported that U.S. factory goods orders unexpectedly rose 0.7% in November. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 0.1% decline.

The telecommunications sector also gained, as shares of Motorola Mobility Holdings rose 7.8% and Motorola Solutions gained 0.2% as Motorola's long-awaited split into two entities officially took place Tuesday. Motorola Mobility consists of the company's consumer-focused smartphone and set-top box business, while Motorola Solutions focuses on handheld communication devices and public-safety radios.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4 points to 11666, one day after closing at a 28-month high.

The Nasdaq Composite edged down less than one point to 2691. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 0.2% to 1269.

Weighing on the S&P 500, food retailers lagged after BMO Capital Markets downgraded Safeway, Vitamin Shoppe, and Whole Foods to marketperform from outperform, noting limited upside. Shares of Safeway fell 4.6%, Vitamin Shoppe was off 3.4% and Whole Foods shed 2.9%. BMO also reduced its estimates for Supervalu, noting the chain's inability to drive traffic, and Kroger, saying the fiscal year 2011 consensus could be too high given the challenging environment. Supervalu tumbled 8.2, while Kroger lost 1.6%.

However, the market pared steeper earlier declines after the Commerce Department reported that U.S. factory goods orders unexpectedly rose in November 0.7%. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 0.1% decline.

Also helping to keep the market's losses in check, technology companies rose, led by a 2.8% climb in Advanced Micro Devices after the company said it is launching its new Fusion chip at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Rival Intel will be announcing a similar chip of its own at the show. Shares of Intel rose 1%.

Later in the session, traders will be focused on the wording of the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes from its latest meeting, which will be released at 2 p.m. EST.

European stocks traded largely higher as the euro was boosted by data showing the U.K.'s manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest rate for more than 16 years in December. Also helping lift sentiment in Europe, Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said China supports Spain's economic reforms and will continue buying Spanish government debt, the Chinese official wrote in an editorial in El Pais, a Spanish newspaper.

Facebook likes big numbers - it now has more than 500 million users, each one of whom can have as many as 5,000 friends. Yet as a privately held company, its ownership base must remain small, or it will have to disclose publicly its financial results.

A surging shadow market in the privately held shares of Facebook is making such restraint difficult and could spur the company to go public - even as its executives try to tamp down speculation about an initial public offering - much as similar pressure helped push Microsoft and Google toward their own initial public offerings.

The frenzied trading in Facebook, as well as in Twitter, Zynga and LinkedIn, has caught the eye of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The New York Times DealBook first reported on Tuesday that the agency had asked for information about trading in all four companies.

While it is unclear what exactly the S.E.C. is focusing on, legal experts say that one clear area of inquiry relates to a federal law that establishes a limit for private companies of fewer than 500 shareholders. Once a company has 500 shareholders, it must register its private shares with the S.E.C. and publicly disclose its financial results.

Facebook is well aware of this issue. In 2008, the S.E.C. allowed Facebook to issue restricted stock to employees without having to register the securities, a move that would have required the company to publicly disclose financial information.

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%.