The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 24.96, or 0.24 percent, at 10,425.04.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index ended up 3.40, or 0.17 percent, at 2,009.88, while the Standard and Poor's 500 stock index ended up 0.16, or 0.01 percent, at 1,109.64. Volume on the Big Board was 978 million shares.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index for December fell to 91.3 -- close to expected -- from a revised 92.5 in November. The present situation index, a gauge of attitudes on current economic conditions, dropped sharply to 73.9, from a revised 81.0 the prior month, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Housing sales activity cooled last month with existing-home sales dropping 4.6 percent from October to a 6.06 million unit annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said.

The Chicago purchasing managers' index for December dropped to 59.2 from 64.1 in November, missing expectations of 62.2.

The euro traded at $1.2552 Tuesday, compared to $1.2434 from Monday afternoon in New York. The dollar was trading at 107.035 compared to the yen, from 106.91 on Monday.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 rose 12.90, or 0.29 percent, to 4,470.40, and in Asia Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average climbed 176.02, or 1.7 percent, to 10,676.64 in a half-day session.