A look at the day's business news headlines:

Stocks end November with a whimper

Stocks started November with a bang but ended it with a whimper, as all three major indexes closed the day and month lower on Tuesday.

A stronger-than-expected report on consumer confidence muffled some losses, but the market couldn't fully recover from a weak housing report and concerns about Europe's economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 46 points, or 0.4 percent, but remained barely above the 11,000 mark at 11,006.02. The S&P 500 fell 7 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 1,180.55, and the Nasdaq dropped 27 points, or 1.1 percent, to end at 2,498.83.

It was a downbeat end to a month that started out strong. The Dow and Nasdaq shot to two-year highs in early November after the Republican success in the Congressional election and the Federal Reserve's announcement of a second round of economy-boosting asset purchases.

Turmoil in Europe's bond markets

Amid the latest signs of strife in the eurozone, European bond markets are in some tumultuous times.

Government bonds are usually thought of as one of the safest investments, because the risk of a country defaulting on its debt is considered slim. But lately, signs of instability in Europe have rattled global markets, and turned the safe-haven bid on its head - at least on that side of the Atlantic.

Investors are more reluctant to hold on to European government bonds and are demanding higher yields. At the same time, they're scooping up more insurance against defaults on those bonds, in the form of so called credit default swaps.

- CNNMoney.com reporters Annalyn Censky and Julianne Pepitone contributed to this report.