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NEW YORK — Most stocks rose for a third day Tuesday as a rally in commodities helped the market overcome weakening consumer confidence and a record decline in house prices.

Monsanto Co. rallied the most in seven years after boosting its earnings forecast.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., Newmont Mining Corp. and Alcoa Inc. carried the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to its first three-day advance in a month. The Dow Jones industrial average, which swung between gains and losses at least 40 times, ended lower.

The S&P 500 added 3.11 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,352.99. The Dow lost 16.04, or 0.1 percent, to 12,532.6. The Nasdaq composite index rose 14.30, or 0.6 percent, to 2,341.05.
The S&P/Case-Shiller house-price index decreased 10.7 percent in January from a year earlier. The gauge has fallen for 13 straight months.

Monsanto posted the steepest gain in the S&P 500, adding $10.28, or 9.9 percent, to $114.54. The company raised its full-year earnings forecast to $3.15 to $3.25 a share.

Mining companies gained as a drop in the dollar pushed gold higher and silver, copper and aluminum also rose. Freeport-McMoRan climbed $3.65 to $92.41. Newmont Mining added $1.36 to $46.82. Alcoa Inc. rose 70 cents to $35.74 for the biggest gain in the Dow average.

BJ Services Co. gained $1.70, or 6.9 percent, to $26.43. Chesapeake Energy Corp. added $1.39, or 3.1 percent, to $46.40.

General Growth Properties Inc. rose $2.74, or 7.2 percent, to $41 for the second-biggest gain in the S&P 500 http://us-no-fax-payday-loans.com. The second-largest U.S. owner of malls plans to raise $821.9 million by selling stock to help pay debt.

Yahoo Inc. climbed $1.21 to $28.73. The stock was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Citigroup.

Qualcomm Inc. added 91 cents to $40.80.

Bank of America, the second-biggest U.S. bank by assets, fell $1.48, or 3.5 percent, to $40.97 for the biggest drop in the Dow average.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the biggest underwriter of U.S. mortgage bonds, tumbled $1.43 to $45.21 after analysts at Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller reduced profit estimates.

Home Depot, the largest home-improvement retailer, slid 50 cents to $28.76. Lowe’s, its smaller rival, lost 61 cents to $23.68.

House prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in January by the most on record, a sign the housing recession is deepening, a private survey showed.

MGIC Investment Corp. fell the most in the S&P 500, sliding $1.05, or 7.9 percent, to a 15-year low of $12.25.

Clear Channel Communications slumped $1.89, or 5.5 percent, to $32.56. A planned private equity buyout of the largest U.S. radio broadcaster, announced in November 2006, is close to falling apart, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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