Stocks mixed, commods jump before Slovak EU vote

Stocks ended a volatile session with slight gains and commodities extended their rally on Tuesday as investors held back from big bets ahead of US earnings reports, as well as on concerns about the euro zone debt crisis.

Wall Street stocks settled in mostly positive territory -- helped by bets on third-quarter results from aluminum producer Alcoa Inc -- while sentiment was still fragile from the sell-off of the past month.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 16.88 points, or 0.15 percent, to end at 11,416.30. But the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.65 point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,195.54. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 16.98 points, or 0.66 percent, at 2,583.03.

European share prices slipped back in thin trade, breaking a four-session rally as the euro zone's still uncertain political response to its sovereign debt crisis gave investors pause on the eve of the US third-quarter earnings season.

The fate of the euro zone's EFSF rescue fund was snagged on getting the approval of Slovakia's parliament, where a key vote was delayed by the government on Tuesday in the face of opposition from a member of its four-party coalition. The proposed expansion of the fund's powers has already been approved by fellow euro zone states.

Eastern European lender Erste Group Bank led fallers, down 6.1 percent in a 0.3 percent weaker FTSEurofirst 300 , a day after the Austrian bank warned it would make a loss this year and not pay a dividend.

The Nikkei share average ended up 2% today at a three-week closing high on expectations that a pledge from Germany and France to come up with a plan this month to protect the region's banks will prevent Greece's debt woes from spreading.

The benchmark has gained about 5 percent from its intraday trough of 8,343 last Wednesday, its lowest since March 15 when it slumped to 8,227 in the wake of that month's devastating earthquake.