国际英语新闻：U.S. stocks consolidate after big gains

NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as investors pulled back after Monday's big gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 20.43 points, or 0.18 percent, to 11,691.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 1.69 points, or 0.13 percent, to 1,270.20 and the Nasdaq fell 10.27 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,681.25.

Major indexes fell in the morning session after opening moderately higher, even as the factory goods orders came in better than expected. According to the Commerce Department, orders for factory goods rose 0.7 percent in November, while analysts were expecting a small drop.

Meanwhile, the sell-off in commodities exerted heavy pressure on stock market. Gold futures on Tuesday took their biggest plunge in six months as optimism about the global economy dimmed the metal's safe-haven appeal.

Gold for February delivery fell 44.10 dollars, or 3.1 percent, to settle at 1,378.80 dollars an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver lost more than 5 percent, while copper ended 2 percent lower, giving up the previous session ' s record high.

Stocks trimmed some losses after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its December policy meeting.

"While the economic outlook was seen as improving, members generally felt that the change in the outlook was not sufficient to warrant any adjustments to the asset-purchase program, and some noted that more time was needed to accumulate information on the economy before considering any adjustment," the Fed said.

On corporate front, auto makers got boosted on Tuesday after major car companies reported strong sales.

Ford Motor's sales jumped 15 percent and it grabbed market share from rivals for the second year in a row. General Motors's sales rose 6.3 percent while Chrysler climbed 17 percent, an impressive rebound from 2009 when the two companies restructured in bankruptcy court.

Shares of Motorola's successors jumped after the company officially split into the two entities on Tuesday.

Motorola Mobility, doing its former parent's consumer-focused smart phone and set-top-box businesses, soared nearly 10 percent, while Motorola Solutions, focusing on operations that make hand- held communication devices, rallied 6.6 percent.