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**Cheeniandab** · 03-23-2012, 09:48 PM

U.S. Stocks Are Little Changed Before Home-Sales Data

U.S. stocks were little changed ahead of a report on new-home sales as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index headed for its biggest weekly drop of the year.

The S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 percent to 1,393.07 at 9:31 a.m. in New York. The benchmark index for American equities is down 0.8 percent for the week.

“The market is catching its breath a little,” Jim Russell, the Cincinnati, Ohio-based head equity investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees about $103 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The data that came in yesterday is consistent with moderate slowdowns that are occurring in Europe and China. The market is keying off some of that slowdown. A few percentage-point pullback is going to prove to be healthy and be the pause that refreshes.”

U.S. stocks retreated yesterday as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and FedEx Corp. (FDX) tumbled amid a disappointing forecast. The S&P 500 slumped 1.2 percent in three days. The gauge is still headed for its longest monthly rally since September 2009 as economic data topped forecasts and the European Central Bank disbursed more than 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to lenders.

New home sales rose to a 325,000 annual rate in February from 321,000 the previous month, according to a Bloomberg News survey of 78 economists ahead of a Commerce Department report at 10 a.m. New York time. That would be the fastest since December 2010.

03-23-2012, 09:48 PM	#27
Cheeniandab Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 416 Senior Member	U.S. Stocks Are Little Changed Before Home-Sales Data U.S. stocks were little changed ahead of a report on new-home sales as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index headed for its biggest weekly drop of the year. The S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 percent to 1,393.07 at 9:31 a.m. in New York. The benchmark index for American equities is down 0.8 percent for the week. “The market is catching its breath a little,” Jim Russell, the Cincinnati, Ohio-based head equity investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees about $103 billion, said in a telephone interview. “The data that came in yesterday is consistent with moderate slowdowns that are occurring in Europe and China. The market is keying off some of that slowdown. A few percentage-point pullback is going to prove to be healthy and be the pause that refreshes.” U.S. stocks retreated yesterday as manufacturing contracted in China and Europe and FedEx Corp. (FDX) tumbled amid a disappointing forecast. The S&P 500 slumped 1.2 percent in three days. The gauge is still headed for its longest monthly rally since September 2009 as economic data topped forecasts and the European Central Bank disbursed more than 1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) to lenders. New home sales rose to a 325,000 annual rate in February from 321,000 the previous month, according to a Bloomberg News survey of 78 economists ahead of a Commerce Department report at 10 a.m. New York time. That would be the fastest since December 2010.
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