A look at highlights from the day's business news:

Stocks: Earnings help, economy hurts

Stocks churned Tuesday, losing steam following a three-session run, after a big drop in consumer confidence offset better-than-expected profit growth from DuPont, UBS and others.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 12 points, or 0.1 percent. The S&P 500 lost just over 1 point. The Nasdaq composite lost 8 points, or 0.4 percent.

Consumer confidence declined in July, according to the Conference Board's closely watched index, which fell to 50.4 from an upwardly revised 54.3 in June. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought the index would decline, but only to 51. The report served to underscore the weak outlook for consumer spending heading into the fall, and caused stocks to erase early gains.

Treasurys dip after auction

Treasurys slipped Tuesday after a $38 billion auction of two-year notes, with $66 billion in debt sales still on tap for the week.

The benchmark 10-year note fell 15/32 to 103-25/32, pushing its yield up to 3.05 percent from 3 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The 30-year bond lost 1-1/32 to 105-2/32 and its yield was 4.068 percent. The two-year note edged down 3/32 to 100 and yielded 0.65 percent.

A day earlier, Treasurys were flat as investors prepared for the week of auctions.

This week's debt sales kicked off Tuesday with a $38 billion offering of two-year notes. The bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand, was 3.33 - slightly higher than that of the previous two-year note auctions.

A $37 billion auction of five-year notes is on tap Wednesday, and the government will sell $29 billion in seven-year notes Thursday.

- CNNMoney.com reporters Alexandra Twin and Blake Ellis contributed to this report.