Market Update: Dow, S&P Up on Positive Consumer Confidence Report, NASDAQ Down on Declining Tech Stocks

Shares in American equity markets rose for a second straight day Tuesday, boosted by an unexpectedly robust surge in a key consumer sentiment indicator and a reprieve from the seemingly endless parade of bad news out of Europe.

The one exception was the tech-heavy NASDAQ market, where shares of several large e-commerce-focused companies reversed gains from Monday's rally.

At mid-day Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.47 points to 11,588.48, up 0.57 percent from the previous session's close. The benchmark S&P 500 Index was at 1,198.66 points, up 6.11, or 0.51 percent. The NASDAQ index was down 0.28 percent, or 7.10 points, to 2,520.24.

The Conference Board, a private organization that releases a widely-reported monthly survey of consumer confidence, said its benchmark index rose to 56.0 in November, up from a 30-month low of 40.9 in October. That news seemed to be enough to ward off mixed rumblings from Europe, where an auction of Italian government bonds was oversubscribed but still resulted in bonds being sold with coupons over 7 percent. It also overtook news that Fitch Ratings had placed the credit rating of the United States government on watch for a downgrade.

The NASDAQ index failed to track the other stock market indices closely, as shares of several large online companies (Amazon.com, eBay, and Netflix among them) were down over 3 percent.