(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks finished lower on Wednesday as disappointing housing data spurred recovery fears. A sharp slide in technology shares also pressurized stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 11.11 points or 0.11% to finish at 10,426.31. The S&P 500 subtracted 0.52 points or 0.05% to end at 1,109.80. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.64 points or 0.48% to 2,193.14.
The Department of Commerce said Wednesday that housing starts slumped 10.6% in October to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000. Building Permits dropped 4% to annual rate of 552,000. Economists had projected housing starts to increase to an annual rate of 600,000 and building permits to rise to 580,000 in October.
A release by Department of Labor on Wednesday showed U.S. producer prices increased 0.3% in October while core producer prices declined 0.2% in the month. Economists expected producer price index to rise 0.2 and core producer price index to gain 0.2% in October.
Technology stocks finished with losses. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:
HPQ) plunged 92 cents or 1.78% to $50.41. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:
INTC) tumbled 24 cents or 1.18% to $20.08.
Shares of Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:
KFT) slipped 39 cents or 1.41% to $27.25.
Equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:
CAT) lost 59 cents or 0.99% to close at
59.29.
Shares of airplane maker Boeing Co. (NYSE:
BA) slid 59 cents or 1.12% to $51.94.
Among financials, shares of Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:
BAC) rallied 56 cents or 3.55% to $16.33.
Early on Wednesday, BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. (NYSE:
BJ) announced that its third quarter net income declined to $17.7 million, or 32 cents per share, from $28.2 million, or 48 cents per share, in the prior-year quarter. The wholesale club operator said that its revenue climbed 2 percent to $2.51 billion from $2.46 billion.
