Wall Street's wall of worry

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wall Street investors struggled to find any encouraging news Tuesday amid record oil prices and more woes from the already troubled housing sector, leaving major gauges lower for the second straight session.

The Dow Jones industrial average (Charts) finished about 72 points, or 0.5 percent, lower.

The broader S&P 500 index (Charts) lost nearly 0.7 percent, while the tech-fueled Nasdaq (Charts) eased about 0.6 percent.

Pressuring stocks were higher oil prices, which rose $1.48 to settle at a record high of $87.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting a record trading high of $88.20 earlier in the session.

"Oil moving up here is one thing that has gotten a lot of attention from portfolio managers with it getting close to $90 a barrel," said Todd Leone, head of listed trading at Cowen & Co. "Inflation could be a problem and that could hurt the economy."

After sifting through some disappointing corporate results during the session, investors enjoyed some comforting earnings from the tech sector after the closing bell Tuesday as Intel, IBM (Charts, Fortune 500) and Yahoo all delivered better-than-expected results.

Shares of Intel (Charts, Fortune 500) and Yahoo (Charts, Fortune 500) soared in after-hours trading on the news.

Earlier Tuesday, wireless networks maker LM Ericsson (Charts) warned that its third-quarter sales, operating income and cash flow all would be lower than expected. Shares of the LM Ericsson tumbled 23 percent on the news.

And Wells Fargo (Charts, Fortune 500) reported slightly higher earnings despite taking a writedown totaling nearly $500 million over mortgages that had lost value.

But even as the pace of corporate earnings picked up, much of Wall Street's attention was focused on the health of the housing sector.

The National Association of Home Builders reported that its monthly survey of builder confidence fell to its worst reading on record during October, while the outlook for the future also remained at a record low.

That report came just after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned in a speech Monday night that weakness in the housing market would likely drag on growth through early next year.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also offered his take on the housing market Tuesday, warning that current housing crisis posed a risk to the larger economy, but did not warrant a bailout.

On the corporate front, shares of newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps (Charts) surged nearly 9 percent in afternoon trade after the company said it would split into two companies, with its new firm controlling its cable TV and Internet holdings.

Shares of Bear Stearns (Charts, Fortune 500) climbed about 2 percent higher following reports that China Citic Bank is bidding for a stake in the battered Wall Street bank.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners beat advancers by more than 2 to 1 as 1.28 billion shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, losers topped winners by nearly the same ratio on volume of 2.07 billion shares.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 4.64 percent from 4.67 percent late Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar gained against the euro and eased versus the yen.

COMEX gold prices moved slightly lower after hitting a 28-year high, as prices fell 20 cents to $762 an ounce.

Looking ahead to Wednesday's session, investors will have plenty of economic and earnings news to keep themselves busy.

The closely watched consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, and a reading on housing starts for September are both slated for release before the opening bell. The Federal Reserve "Beige Book" report, a reading on regional economic conditions, is due out at 2 p.m. ET.

And before the opening bell, Dow components Altria, Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase and United Technologies Corp. are all set to deliver quarterly results.