NEW YORK (AP) – Wall Street tried for a modest advance Tuesday, drawing confidence from declining Treasury yields, but investors’ mood was subdued by a lackluster profit report from Best Buy Co. and confirmation that new home construction fell in May.

The 10-year Treasury note’s yield, which hit five-year highs last week, dropped to 5.09 percent from 5.14 percent late Monday – alleviating some worries about high rates slowing down corporate dealmaking and hurting the already sluggish housing market.

Also giving the stock market a boost was a rise in General Electric Co.’s stock, after its unit GE Energy Financial Services bought a stake in Regency Energy Partners LP, a natural gas processor and distributor, from HM Capital Partners LLC for $603 million. Airline stocks were strong as well, lifted by an analyst upgrade of US Airways Group Inc.

The major stock indexes wavered, however, on concerns about flagging consumer spending after electronics chain Best Buy warned of an uncertain consumer spending environment, and said it was lowering its fiscal 2008 profit forecast.

And although investors were expecting a decline in home construction, they appeared concerned about the Commerce Department report showing construction of new homes and apartments dropped by 2.1 percent last month. The drop followed small gains in April and March and marked the steepest drop since January, when construction plunged 13.9 percent. In one possible good sign, permit applications rose 3 percent in May after falling 7.1 percent the previous month.

Analysts appeared unconcerned by the stock market’s small back-and-forth moves, noting that it is to be expected after the market’s big advance last week, when relief over inflation and interest rates sent stocks soaring and gave the Dow Jones industrials their biggest three-day point gain since November 2004.

“We’re taking a very normal time-out to refresh. One of the best ways to gauge a market is to see how it reacts when you have profit-taking. It shows that the mettle of the market is still quite positive, that there is still money on the sideline that wants in,” said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at A.G. Edwards.

In early afternoon trading, the Dow rose 16.26, or 0.12 percent, to 13,629.24. The blue-chip index was buoyed largely by GE, which rose $1.25, or 3.3 percent, to $39.32.

Broader stock indicators also edged higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.89, or 0.12 percent, to 1,532.94, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.69, or 0.03 percent, to 2,627.29.

Bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slipping to 5.12 percent from 5.15 percent late Monday. The dollar, which had strengthened in recent weeks a bond yields rose, was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

While Wall Street has largely tried to look past weakness in the housing market as old news, any sign that the fallout isn’t contained and could taint other areas of the economy could alarm investors.

Economic data has at turns upended and supported the market in recent weeks as investors try to feel their way forward while juggling concerns about inflation, interest rates, the housing sector and the overall economy.

Wall Street is still awaiting the quarterly flood of earnings reports that will begin to arrive in earnest next month so investors are paying close attention to the reports that trickle in.

Best Buy’s report that its fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 18 percent amid weak profits in China and increased sales of lower-margin products such as notebook computers unnerved investors. The stock fell $2.53, or 5.3 percent, to $45.48.

Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise group, rose 34 cents to $50.00 after posting a nearly 3 percent rise in second-quarter earnings. A strong performance in Europe made up for weak pricing in the Caribbean market and increased fuel costs.

United Airways rose $1.64, or 6 percent, to $28.93, after the UBS analyst upgrade, and other airlines followed. UAL Corp., the parent company of United Airlines, rose $2.31, or 6.5 percent, to $37.64; Continental Airlines Inc. rose $1.21, or 3.7 percent, to $34.11; and AMR Corp., which rose 90 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $26.46.

In other corporate news, Yahoo Inc. fell 35 cents to $27.77 after Chairman Terry Semel said late Monday he stepped aside as chief executive. Investors have criticized the company’s performance against rival Google Inc.

Advancing issues narrowly outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 745.5 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.13, or 0.13 percent, to 847.41.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.08 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.80 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.03 percent, and France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.25 percent.

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