国际英语新闻：Wall Street ends mixed, Dow hits 28-month high

And according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index, pressured by a supply glut, home foreclosures and high unemployment, U.S. home prices in 20 metropolitan regions fell for a fourth straight month in October.

The disappointing results pressed the equities.

But later on Tuesday, the 5-year biggest increase of retail sales for this holiday season seemed much more inspiring.

U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose 5.5 percent between November 5 and December 24 compared with a year ago, according to New York-based SpendingPulse, a unit of MasterCard Advisors that tracks sales by all types of payment.

According to a separate statement from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), another New York-based trade group, last-minute Christmas gift shopping pushed sales at stores open at least a year up 4.8 percent in the week ended on December 25, the strongest year-over-year gain since April.

At the closing, the Dow added 20.51 points, or 0.18 percent, to 11,575.54. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.97 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,258.51, while the Nasdaq edged down 4.39 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,662.88.

On the COMEX Devision of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold contract for February delivery surged 22.7 dollars to 1,405.6 dollars per ounce as dollar sank.