NEW YORK (AP) - The stock market mostly held on to its big comeback after investors set aside worries about Europe's debt struggles.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell about 37 points after fluctuating for much of the day. Broader indexes were mixed.

Analysts said it was encouraging to see the market hold on to most of its gains from Monday, when the Dow soared 405 points in response to the creation of a bailout fund for weak countries like Greece. Tuesday's steady trading signaled that the previous day's big advance was not solely driven by euphoria.

"I'm very encouraged by the market action," said Keith Walter, portfolio manager of the Artio Global Equity Fund in New York. "I think today was a more important day than yesterday."

More bad news from Europe or elsewhere could always unravel the advance. Even with Monday's big move, stocks are only back to where they were last Wednesday.

The easing of worries about Europe allowed traders to focus on the stronger economic picture in the US Investors have been concerned that problems in weaker European countries would disrupt a global economic recovery.

"We've taken the panic out of the market," said Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management in New York. "In the US market the fundamentals are clearly good."

Mr. Zemsky also said last week's slide made it more likely that stocks would resume their climb. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12.6 percent from its recent peak in late April to last Thursday when the market was tumbling on fears about Greece's debt.

The bailout helped reassure investors that European countries would act decisively to protect the euro. However several weaker countries will still have to make deep spending cuts to rebuild confidence in the euro, which could slow a recovery in Europe's economy.

Asian markets retreated after a report showed inflation in China accelerated last month. China has already spooked markets by clamping down on bank lending to cool its economy, and investors worried that the inflation report could lead Chinese authorities to tap the brakes on its huge economy again. That could hurt US and other companies that do business with China.

Global economic indicators, such as the US government's monthly jobs report, had been overshadowed recently as investors feared debt problems in Greece would spread through Europe. Traders were also concerned about how much European debt woes would hurt the euro, the currency used by 16 European countries.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 36.88, or 0.3 percent, to 10,748.26. The Dow fell by as much as 100 points shortly after the opening bell and rose as much as 89 points in afternoon trading.

The S&P 500 index fell 3.94, or 0.3 percent, to 1,155.79, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.64, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,375.31.

The Dow jumped 3.9 percent on Monday, while the S&P 500 index surged 4.4 percent. It was the biggest jump since March 2009.

Treasury prices were little changed after plunging on Monday when investors dumped safe investments following news of the European bailout. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was flat at 3.54 percent.

Crude oil fell 43 cents to $76.37 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar rose and hovered near its strongest levels in 14 months against the euro. Gold rose.

Among stocks, Intel Corp. fell 27 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $22.28 after the chipmaker's CEO said that the company expects revenue and net income per share to increase by the low double digits in the news few years because of rising demand.

Advancing stocks narrowly outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.5 billion shares, compared with 1.9 billion on Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.87, or 0.9 percent, to 695.48.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell one percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.3 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.1 percent.