Weak start on Wall StreetMajor stock gauges slide as investors eye Lennar's troubles; consumer confidence report in focus.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Lennar's weak profit report and jitters ahead of the consumer confidence report sent stocks lower Tuesday morning. The Dow Jones industrial average (down 45.42 to 12,423.65, Charts), the broader S&P 500 (down 6.13 to 1,431.37, Charts) index and the Nasdaq (down 8.04 to 2,447.59, Charts) composite all lost around 0.4 percent in the early going. 
Stocks managed to end mixed Monday, as investors fought back at the end of a tough session in which a weak read on new home sales revived worries about the health of the economy. Such concerns remained in place Tuesday after homebuilder Lennar (down $1.09 to $43.45, Charts) reported a big drop in quarterly profit and said its withdrawing its 2007 forecast, due to the uncertain housing picture. Shares slipped 3 percent. Investors were also attuned to the March consumer confidence report, due at around 10 a.m. ET. The index is expected to have slipped to 108.5 from 109. U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 38 cents to $62.53 a barrel in electronic trading. Treasury prices were little changed with the yield on the 10-year note at about 4.60 percent, little changed from late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and rose versus the yen. |
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