By Sam Forgione
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose on Tuesday on signs of improvement in the U.S. housing market, while Wall Street was mostly lower as IBM shares dropped on weak results.
IBM fell 5.5 percent, putting a damper on the benchmark U.S. S&P 500 index and the Dow, a day after reporting a bigger-than-expected fall in quarterly revenue. Gains in Verizon and United Technologies after strong results helped offset IBM's drop.
European mining and energy stocks declined in the aftermath of weak data from China on Monday, which showed growth in the world's leading consumer of metals was the slowest since the global financial crisis. Traders also said European shares fell as investors took profits in the absence of anything to justify extending recent gains.
"There is still the legacy of the weak Chinese data that is hanging over parts of the market today," said Hantec Markets' analyst Richard Perry. Traders also awaited a European Central Bank meeting this week.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hit 2.079 percent, their highest in over a week.
Commerce Department data showed U.S. housing starts increased 6.5 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.21 million units. That beat expectations for 1.15 million units, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
MSCI's all-country world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 nations, was last down 0.13 percent. Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index was last down 0.35 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.01 percent, at 17,232.34. The S&P 500 was down 0.01 percent, at 2,033.53. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.25 percent, at 4,893.01.
Oil prices steadied after a week of falls, but the outlook was uncertain as the head of the world's biggest independent oil trader said the market would struggle to recover much ground over the next year.
Ian Taylor, chief executive trading company Vitol, told the Reuters annual Commodities Summit that slowing demand growth and an increase in the volume of Iranian crude would help keep a lid on fuel prices.
Brent crude was last down 9 cents at $48.52 a barrel, while U.S. crude was last down 25 cents at $45.64 per barrel.
The euro rebounded against the dollar after falling for three straight sessions, bolstered by solid regional economic data and comments from ECB officials suggesting further monetary easing may not be imminent.
"The euro zone data and (ECB governing council member Christian) Noyer's remarks doused expectations that the ECB would increase stimulus for the euro zone," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.
The euro was last up 0.2 percent against the dollar at $1.13520. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last down 0.16 percent at 94.781.
Spot gold prices were last up $5.2, or 0.44 percent, at $1,175.50 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Marc Jones and Sudip Kar-Gupta in London, Michael Connor and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
