03/27/2012 | 03:36pm

--U.S. stocks mostly flat as major economic reports meet economists' expectations

--Consumer confidence dips from robust February level; near-term reading is strong

--Home prices fall to 2003 levels

    By Matt Jarzemsky     Of Dow Jones Newswires   

Stocks took a pause after Monday's rally, trading flat as consumer-confidence and home-price data met expectations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 points, or less than 0.1%, to 13243 in afternoon trading. The blue chips rose 160.90 points, or 1.2%, on Monday, recouping last week's retreat in a single session.

Standard & Poor's 500-stock index inched ahead 1 point, or 0.1%, to 1417, and the Nasdaq Composite added 11 points, or 0.4%, to 3133.

"I think we're at kind of a breather point," said Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust. "The market's a little exhausted today."

U.S. consumers in March remained confident about the economy and labor markets, according to a report by the Conference Board. The private research group's index dropped to 70.2 in March from an upwardly revised February reading of 71.6, which was the highest in a year. This month's figure was close to the 70 anticipated by economists in a Dow Jones Newswires poll.

The "present situation" index, a gauge of consumers' assessment of current economic conditions, rose to 51, the highest score since September 2008.

"This is par for the course for the U.S. It's 'slow and steady wins the race,'" said Diane Jaffee, senior portfolio manager at TCW. "The U.S. economy, while not as robust as coming out of stronger recessions, is still stronger than people anticipated."

U.S. home prices fell in January from a month earlier, hitting early-2003 levels, according to Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home-price index. The data signal the housing market remains sluggish despite soft prices and historically low interest rates. The Case-Shiller index of 10 major metropolitan areas declined 0.8% while the 20-city index fell by the same percentage.

In other economic news, activity among manufacturers in the central Atlantic region weakened but remained in expansion territory for the fourth straight month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond reported. The bank's manufacturing general-business index fell to 7 in March from 20 in February.

European markets finished lower, with the Stoxx Europe 600 down 0.4%, as a disappointing Spanish treasury-bill auction offset better-than-expected consumer-confidence data in France. The overall confidence index for France rose to 87 in March, from 82 in February; economists had been expecting an unchanged reading.

Asian exchanges were mostly higher on the back of U.S. gains, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 2.4% to close at a 12-month high. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1%, to a six-week low, after the country's National Bureau of Statistics indicated net income from China's largest industrial groups dropped 5.2% in the first two months of the year.

Crude-oil futures dipped 0.1%, to $106.95 a barrel, while gold futures ticked down less than 0.1% to settle at $1,684.80 an ounce. The dollar gained against both the euro and the yen.

In corporate news, shares of Lennar jumped 4.9% after the home builder's fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue topped forecasts. In addition, gross margin percentage on home sales improved over year-earlier levels on the back of an increase in average sales prices and lower valuation adjustments. Fellow home builder PulteGroup climbed 4.8%.

Ista Pharmaceuticals leapt 7.8% after the eye-care company agreed to be acquired by privately held Bausch + Lomb, which is offering more than $380 million for Ista's outstanding shares.

Wabash National surged 11% as the truck-trailer producer said it will continue its diversification strategy by purchasing Walker Group Holdings, a maker of liquid-transportation systems, for $360 million.

Apollo Group slumped 8.9%. The private education provider swung to a better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter profit following a year-earlier period hampered by write-downs, but enrollment weakness continued to pressure revenue.

Bank of America fell 1.8%, recording the biggest decline among Dow components after analysts at Robert W. Baird lowered their rating on the shares to "neutral." The analysts said Bank of America's earnings potential doesn't justify further investment in its shares, which have rallied this year.

McMoRan Exploration tumbled 6.2% after the company reported a technical difficulty at its Davy Jones prospect, which the company has said has the potential to be one of the largest wells on the Gulf of Mexico's shelf in decades.

-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240; matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com