Stocks and the euro pared gains as euro zone ministers struggled to ramp up the firepower of the regional rescue fund and raised the possibility of asking the International Monetary Fund for more help.

US benchmark 10-year Treasury notes briefly turned positive in price as large-cap US stocks pared gains, driven by a decline in financial shares, and the technology-rich Nasdaq turned negative.

The euro was trading 0.1 percent higher at $1.3329.

Investor sentiment was bolstered after the Conference Board, an industry group, reported US consumer confidence bounced back in November from a 2-1/2-year low as worries about job and income prospects eased.

European shares closed higher, extending a low-volume rally into a third day, on hopes policy-makers will make progress toward containing the debt crisis even as Italy sold three-year debt at a euro lifetime high.

“It is a great sign that the auction was oversubscribed, suggesting that we seem to be moving forward with progress there,” said Paul Zemsky, the New York-based head of asset allocation for ING Investment Management.

“That said, the yields remain quite high, so we’re not sounding an all-clear just yet,” added Zemsky, who helps oversee $445 billion in assets.

Italy had to offer a record 7.89 percent yield to sell its debt, a stunning leap from the 4.93 percent it paid in late October.

The yields were above levels at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to apply for international bailouts.

Wall Street rallied on the consumer confidence report, another sign that the US economy remains on the path of recovery, and on optimism that Europe is moving to resolve the two-year-old debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 57.07 points, or 0.50 percent, at 11,580.08. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 4.56 points, or 0.38 percent, at 1,197.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7.20 points, or 0.28 percent, at 2,520.14.

But weak financials shares weighed, with the S&P financial index down 0.6 percent and shares of Bank of America dropping 3.2 percent to $5.09, on track for their worst close since March 2009.

“There seems to be some movement on the European front, but things certainly haven’t been resolved. Financials are taking a step back, and are kind of keeping a cap on the market as a whole,” said Thomas Villalta, portfolio manager for Jones Villalta Asset Management in Austin, Texas.

AMR Corp, the parent of American Airlines plunged 79 percent to about 34 cents a share after it filed for bankruptcy protection and named a new chairman and chief executive.

The stock was halted more than a dozen times throughout the day.

The FTSEurofirst 300 of leading European shares closed up 0.75 percent at 947.89 points.

US Treasury debt prices slipped as signs of a pickup in US consumption eroded the safe-haven value of government debt., though bond investors were cautious because of Europe. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down 4/32 in price to yield 1.98 percent.

Crude oil prices pushed higher, lifted by enthusiasm over Italy’s bond auction and as Iranian protesters stormed the British embassy in Tehran.

Brent crude futures rose $1.96 to $110.96 a barrel and US crude futures gained $1.62 to $99.83 a barrel.

Gold rebounded. Spot gold prices rose $7.30 to $1,719.00.