New York: Wall Street stocks retreated early Wednesday following lackluster US housing data and mixed corporate earnings.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 25,620.19, down 0.7 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent to 2,800.81, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.4 percent at 7,618.39.
The early weakness came after US stocks had surged Tuesday, partially recovering losses suffered the prior week.
Government housing data showed drops in both new construction and permits in September, the latest sign of weakness for a market that has been pressured by higher lumber costs and increasing interest rates.
Dow member IBM sank six percent after the technology giant reported a drop of two percent in third-quarter revenues to $18.8 billion, below analyst expectations.
But other companies had strong results, including Netflix, which surged 7.1 percent after reporting that quarterly profit more than tripled to $403 million and United Continental, which gained 5.2 percent after profits rose almost 30 percent to $836 million.
[source_without_link]AFP[/source_without_link]