An unexpectedly large increase in new home sales gave Wall Street a shot in the arm early Monday, but the effect lasted only for a few minutes. Shares fell back after jumping briefly into positive territory on the report. The Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes rose 11 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 384,000, a sharper increase than the 3 percent rise economists had been expecting. Sale prices fell for another month, to a nationwide median of $206,200, the government reported.

But the home sales report was not enough to blunt investor concerns over earnings reports coming out Monday.

At 11:50 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 16 points, or 0.2 percent, while the broader Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index and the Nasdaq were essentually flat.

On Friday, the Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500 index rose 0.3 percent, but the Nasdaq broke its string of 12 consecutive higher closes.

Earnings reports on Monday offered a mixed picture to investors. Shares of Aetna fell after the health-insurance company reported a 28 percent decline in profits and reduced its outlook. Verizon Communications reported a 7 percent drop in profit, yet its results met Wall Street expectations. Verizon, however, continues to struggle with the loss of landline customers and said that it planned to cut another 8,000 jobs.

In Europe, the major markets were slightly, following another day of strong performances on Asian markets. In afternoon trading, the DJ Euro Stoxx-50 index, a barometer of euro-zone blue chips, rose 0.72 percent, giving the index a gain for the year of 6.28 percent. The CAC-40 in Paris was rose 0.18 percent, and the DAX in Frankfurt was up 0.42 percent.

The FTSE-100 index in London ended 0.21 percent higher, as Ryanair weighed on European airline shares. The Irish carrier beat the market&S217;s second-quarter profit expectations, but it warned that demand was falling, and it cut its full-year guidance. Its shares fell 9.2 percent in London. British Airways fell 2.9 percent, while Air France-KLM fell 1.9 percent in Paris.

Shares in most major markets have rallied on the last two weeks, primarily fueled by a renewed sense of optimism that the economy has bottomed out and on better-than-expected earnings in the United States.

Earlier in Tokyo, the Nikkei rose 1.5 percent to close at 10,088, its highest level in six weeks. It was also the ninth consecutive session of gains for the Nikkei, which is up 12 percent in July and 40 percent since March. The compiler of the Nikkei index reported that it was the best run for the Nikkei in more than 20 years. In February 1988, it recorded 13 consecutive sessions of advances.

Financial analysts typically do not put much stock in round-numbered index levels, and there was clearly some skepticism about the &S220;breakthrough&S221; performances on Monday, especially that of the Nikkei. Several analysts said the index could be overheating.

&S220;Japan is a very, very strange market, and there are a host of reasons to remain very negative on Japan,&S221; said Stephen Davies, chief executive of Javelin Wealth management in Singapore.

Mr. Davies cited three worrisome factors &<51; the negative impact of a relatively strong yen on Japanese exporters, depressed domestic consumption and what he called &S220;political paralysis cash till payday advance.&S221;

&S220;Japan remains,&S221; he said, &S220;a relatively moribund market and a relatively moribund economy.&S221;

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index finished the day up 1.4 percent, closing at 20,251.62, buoyed in part by China Mobile, which jumped 2.9 percent on speculation that it could soon be allowed to sell shares in mainland China.

Three apparel makers posted significant gains on expectations of renewed strength in the Chinese economy. Bossini rose 11 percent and Giordano, both based in Hong Kong, rose 10.1 percent. Li Ning, the Beijing-based maker of athletic shoes and sports clothing, rose 5.7 percent.

The Shanghai Composite also finished up 1.9 percent to reach a 13-month high. The index is up 87 percent this year, the second-best market performance in the world, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of 89 indexes. Only Peru has done better.

The first public offering on the Shanghai exchange since last August created a sensation, with shares of Sichuan Expressway nearly tripling on Monday. Shares in the toll-road operator closed at 10.90 renminbi, or $1.60, a jump of 203 percent. The initial offering price had been 3.60 renminbi. At one point in the afternoon the share price had zoomed to 15.25 renminbi, which triggered a trading halt, one of two suspensions during the day.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Singapore index was up 1.8 percent, the Kospi in Seoul was 1.4 percent higher &<51; reaching an 11-month high &<51; and the ASX-200 in Sydney registered a 1.2 percent gain to close at its highest level since Nov. 4.

&S220;The markets are still very volatile, and a couple bad numbers could certainly create a pause for reflection,&S221; said Mr. Davies. &S220;But I don&S217;t think we&S217;re in the position of re-testing the March lows.&S221;

Financial stocks led the way Monday in Tokyo, notably Daiwa Securities, up 4.5 percent, and Nomura Holdings, Japan&S217;s largest brokerage, which was 3.1 percent higher. Nidec, a maker of motors for disk drives, rose 3.5 percent.

Hitachi climbed 3.4 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported that the company firm would spend $3.2 billion to acquire five key affiliates in a broad-ranging corporate reorganization. Shares of Hitachi and the five subsidiaries were temporarily suspended from trading in the morning.

Macao casino stocks showed strong gains on the Hang Seng, notably Galaxy Entertainment, which was up 3.5 percent, and SJM Holdings, which rose 2.8 percent.

Stanley Ho, the SJM founder, is a strong backer of Fernando Chui, who was elected Sunday as the new chief executive of the Chinese territory. His pro-Beijing leanings are expected to bolster the gaming industry in Macao.

Crude oil prices were down slightly, 10 cents a barrel to $67.95 a barrel.

Bond prices fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury, which moves in the opposite direction of the price, gaining three-hundredths of a point to 3.69 percent.

David Jolly and Mark McDonald contributed reporting.

Shares Slide After Brief Bounce on Home Sales Data