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8B Daily News– Wednesday, August 29, 2012 Mixed economic data kept the stock market hovering near break-even Tuesday. One report on home prices looked encouraging, and another on consumer confidence was worrisome. NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks mixed in thin trading; oil creeps over $96 Wall Street House prices increased in all major U.S. cities in June, according to the closely watched Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index. The report was the latest sign that the housing market has been gaining strength. ''I thought it was terrif- ic,'' said Phil Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors. ''If you look at all of the key housing metrics over the past year — affordability, building permits, starts — all those numbers are pointing in the right direc- tion.'' trial average dropped 21.68 points to close at 13,102.99. Hewlett- Packard led the Dow The Dow Jones indus- 18th down. HP's stock lost 31 cents to $16.90 and hit a new one-year low. Crude oil crept above $96 a barrel as Hurricane Isaac picked up speed in the Gulf of Mexico, where roughly one-quar- ter of the country's oil is produced. Much of the region's production and refining activity has shut down. The National Hur- ricane Center forecast that Isaac would reach the coast of southeastern Louisiana late Tuesday. In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 1.14 points to 1,409.30, and the Nas- daq composite index gained 3.95 points to 3,077.14. Trading was light again, typical for August vacation season. Over the past three days, fewer than 7.7 billion shares have been traded, the low- est three-day stretch since Biggest Sale of the Year Gold Exchange ANNIVERSARY September 1st 413 Walnut Street 528-8000 www.redbluffgoldexchange.com facebook.com/redbluffgoldexchange OPEN: Tues.-Fri. 10am - 5:30pm Sat. 10am - 4pm Merchandise Select That unexpected drop bolsters the case for the Federal Reserve to take more steps to spur eco- nomic growth, said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York, in a note to clients. For economists and December 2011. The indexes dipped in morning trading after the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to its lowest point since November 2011. Economists had expected a much higher reading. The index was 60.6, down from 65.4 in July. investors, the big event this week is Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech at an annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Traders will sift through his speech Friday for evi- dence the Fed is readying more support. Anyone hoping to hear bond-buying, known as quantitative easing or QE3, is likely to wind up disappointed, said Russ Koesterich, global chief investment strategist for BlackRock's iShares group. ''I don't think those investors are going to find what they're looking for.'' Recent reports draw a picture of an economy that's just plodding along, he said. It's hardly in per- fect health, but it's not so weak that the Fed will be forced into action at the end of its next meeting on Sept. 13. ''It's not clear there's enough evidence to sup- port QE3 yet,'' Koesterich said. Worries over Europe Bernanke make a strong case for a third round of resurfaced following news that one of Spain's largest regions, Catalonia, said it will ask the central gov- ernment for $6.3 billion in rescue aid. Catalonia would be the third Spanish region to ask for help. 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