Bank stocks were off, but a broader market index rose Tuesday on mixed economic data.
The KBW Bank Index closed down 1.01%; the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.14%, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 0.33%.
Stocks rose in the morning after a report that the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index rose 1% in August from July, the third straight month that the index of home prices in 20 major cities rose.
However, stocks fell after a report that the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 47.7 in October. Analysts on average were expecting the index to read 53.1.
Economists at Wells Fargo Securities wrote in a note Tuesday that the lack of hiring in the economy coupled with the still high level of layoffs continues to weigh on consumer confidence.
"The drop in the consumer confidence index is a real wake-up call for those who thought the economy was out of the woods," the economists wrote. "The cash for clunkers program and first-time homebuyer tax credit appear to have accounted for more of the bounce the economy saw this summer than was widely thought. The winding down of those programs and a lack of improvement elsewhere is readily apparent in today's report."
Gainers included JPMorgan Chase & Co., up 0.2%; Bank of America Corp., 0.3%; U.S. Bancorp, 0.4%, and Capital One Financial Corp., 0.5%.
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. was unchanged from Monday's closing price of $50.71 a share, and Citigroup Inc. was unchanged, at $4.27.
Decliners included Wells Fargo & Co., off 0.2%; SunTrust Banks Inc., 3.3%; BB&T Corp., 0.5%; KeyCorp, 4.6%; Regions Financial Corp., 0.6%; Fifth Third Bancorp, 3.7%; Comerica Inc., 2.4%, and Zions Bancorp., 2.3%.
