Dow now at 10,016, however, down 24 points from Wednesday’s opening.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks retreated again after another
disappointing report on housing and weak durable goods orders
brought more gloom about the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 50 points in
morning trading Wednesday following news that sales of new homes
fell last month to the lowest level on record. It was the latest
indication that home sales are stagnating after the expiration of a
homebuyer tax credit this spring.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that durable
goods orders grew only slightly last month, falling shy of
expectations and disappointing investors who had been hoping that
the U.S. manufacturing sector would continue to pick up.
The newest signs that the economic recovery is sputtering led
investors to move money into the relative safety of Treasurys,
sending their yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
is now the lowest it’s been since January 2009, when the stock
market was heading toward its lowest level in 12 years, and the
yield on the two-year note is at a record low.
Stocks have been hit hard in recent days because of concerns about
whether the economy will fall back into recession or at least be
stuck in a prolonged period of very slow growth. The Dow is heading
into its fifth straight day of declines.
New home sales fell 12.4 percent in July to an annual rate of
276,600, the Commerce Department reported. That was the slowest
pace on records dating back to 1963 and worse than the pace
forecast by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. A day earlier,
the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes,
a far greater proportion of the housing market, fell to a 15-year
low in July.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 51.61, or 0.5 percent, to
9,989.06 in morning trading.
