Stocks were mixed Tuesday after the previous day's big declines. A gain in U.S. retail sales pointed to a strong start for the holiday shopping season. In midafternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 15 points at 12,037, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 2 points. The tech-laden Nasdaq composite was down 13 points.

The Fed's afternoon announcement that it will hold off on any new steps to boost the economy had little apparent affect on trading.

Outsized demand for U.S. government debt at an auction of 10-year notes sent Treasury prices sharply higher.

The U.S. Treasury sold $21.7 billion of benchmark 10-year notes Tuesday. Demand outstripped supply by 3.53 times, far outpacing the average of 3.04 over the last eight auctions.

Traders said the markets were taken by surprise by a large "indirect order," which is usually a proxy for a foreign buyer. Foreign buyers picked up 61 percent of the offering, compared to 42.8% in recent auctions.

The price of the 10-year note rose 56.2 cents for every $100 invested. The yield dropped to 1.95% from 2.02% from late Monday.

Energy companies made the largest gains in morning trading as crude oil prices climbed back above $100 a barrel ahead of OPEC's meeting in Vienna, Austria, at which production levels are expected to be left unchanged. Chevron rose 2.4%, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow. Airplane maker Boeing was right behind, up 2.2%.

The Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose 0.2% in November, the sixth straight month of gains. Americans were spending more on cars, clothing and furniture at the beginning of the holiday shopping season, the most important time of year for retailers.

Urban Outfitters jumped 8.4%, the most in the S&P 500 index, after the retailer said its sales were rising faster than analysts were expecting. The Philadelphia-based company owns Urban Outfitters stores, Anthropologie and Free People.

Electronics retailer Best Buy plunged 12%. The company said its third-quarter income sank 29% as it cut prices on tablets and TVs to drive sales and traffic during the busy holiday season.

Stocks fell sharply Monday after rating agencies raised doubts that last week's agreement to tighten oversight of European countries' budgets will stem the region's financial crisis. Optimism over last Friday's agreement by the 17 euro countries and nine others to adopt a new fiscal pact to prevent a repeat of the debt crisis evaporated. Credit rating agencies Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings both said it was insufficient and would not materially address the crushing debt loads of some nations.

Moody's warned that it will review all EU governments' ratings for possible downgrades in early 2012 — a threat that analysts said was particularly worrisome to France, a major contributor to the European Financial Stability Facility, Europe's emergency bailout fund. A downgrade of France's triple-A rating could hurt its ability to fulfill its commitments to the fund.

Investors are also awaiting the next move from rival agency Standard & Poor's. Last week S&P warned that it could downgrade most of the eurozone economies, including Germany, if the deal failed to deliver enough.

Still, a calmer tone in the markets was reflected in the performance of the euro, which was trading 0.2% higher at $1.32 after falling to a 10-week low Monday. Investors view it as a sign that fears of an imminent blowup in Europe's financial system may be overblown. On Tuesday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.06% from 2.02% as demand for ultra-safe investments ebbed.

In Europe, Germany's DAX recouped some of Monday's lost ground, trading 0.9% higher at 5,839 while the CAC-40 rose 0.3% to 3,100. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 1% to 5,483.

Strong demand at an auction of Spanish government debt helped reassure investors. Spain was able to sell short-term debt at much lower interest rates compared with a month ago, a signal that markets are becoming less fearful about the government's ability to repay its debt.

In Asia, stocks took a battering following the previous day's retreats in Europe and the U.S.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.2% to close at 8,552.81 while South Korea's Kospi gave up 1.9% to 1,864.06 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7% to 18,447.17. On mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.9% to 2,248.59, its lowest in closing since March 2009. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 3% to 921.32.