* US home prices, consumer confidence short of estimates
* Blizzard pushes oil up just short of 2-year high
* Dow off 0.05 pct, S&P off 0.05 pct, Nasdaq off 0.16 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
(Updates to midmorning)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday as investors were reluctant to take large positions in either direction and largely shrugged off weaker-than-expected data on consumer confidence and home prices.
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index showed prices of U.S. single-family homes fell almost double the expected pace in October. U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated month over month in December, hurt by increasing worries about the jobs market, according to a private report. For details, see [ID:nNLLRNE6QV] and [ID:nN28126497]
"Everybody has done what they need to do. The money that has been put in place has been put in place until the end of the year -- in spite of the fact we may get some modestly surprising data," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 5.79 points, or 0.05 percent, to 11,549.24. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 0.58 points, or 0.05 percent, to 1,256.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dipped 4.16 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,663.11.
General Motors Co
Trading volumes, already light for the holiday season, were expected to remain thin as the northeastern United States digs itself out from a blizzard that disrupted air and rail travel at the end of the busy Christmas weekend. For details, see [ID:nN28243401]
The blizzard pushed oil prices up to just below 26-month
high struck the previous session with U.S. crude
Despite the weaker-than-expected consumer confidence data, holiday sales offered further evidence of a returning consumer according to several reports. [ID:nN28244004]
MannKind Corp