Tepid Times and Mixed Finish for Stocks

Stocks ended mixed and nearly flat Tuesday as investors continued to worry about the breadth and depth of economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 18 to 9748. The Nasdaq gained 8 to 2057 and the S&P 500 rose 3 to 1045.

Elsewhere, auto makers will be reporting October sales throughout the day, with estimates that 10 million units in the U.S. were sold. The sector will also be closely-watched after BMW reported a 74% fall in third-quarter net profit.

Bank stocks led markets lower in Europe after Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyd's Banking (LYG) unveiled agreements with the U.K. Treasury over their participation in a government program to insure their bad assets and detailed the divestments they will need to make to satisfy EU competition concerns. RBS said it will participate in the expensive U.K. asset-protection scheme, while Lloyds opted not to. RBS shares dropped 8% premarket.

UBS was down 7% after it swung to a loss of over $500 million in the third quarter on a variety of charges, with wealthy clients still taking assets out of the Swiss bank.

Asian share markets were mixed in subdued trade as a holiday in Japan kept bourses range-bound, with gold stocks leading the way in Australia after gains for the yellow metal.

Oil futures traded on the Nymex dipped slightly. As of 4:04 p.m., front month crude contracts were up $1.28 at $79.41.

Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report.