Wall St. lower at the open

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks slipped at the start of trading Wednesday as investors considered a record drop in monthly housing prices and indications of weak holiday retail sales.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.3 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was 0.5 percent lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 0.4 percent.

Among stocks in the news Wednesday is Toyota Motor (TM), which announced a 2008 sales target of 9.85 million that would set an annual record if achieved. That would surpass the mark of 9.55 million set by General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) in 1978. GM, which had a slight lead on Toyota in 2007 sales through the third quarter, has yet to release its own sales target for next year.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) announced Tuesday it is paying $4.5 billion for a 60 percent stake in Marmon Holdings Inc., a privately-held conglomerate controlled by the Pritzker family in Chicago.

Late Monday after the early market close drugmaker Wyeth said it will sue generic drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA) to recover lost profits from sales of its heartburn drug Protonix due to a version from Teva. The companies are in settlement talks, with Teva saying it has halted additional shipments of its version of the drug for 30 days.

But Wyeth also suffered a setback Monday when the Food and Drug Administration demanded the drug maker answer more questions on an experimental osteoporosis medicine before it can rule on the drug.