NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Wall Street fell moderately Wednesday, as technology shares weighed on the market after profit forecast at Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) and Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) trailed estimates.
Salesforce.com Inc., the largest seller of Web-based customer- management software, forecast fourth-quarter profit of 14 cents to 15 cents a share, lower than expectation. And Autodesk, the biggest maker of engineering-design software, tumbled after projecting fourth-quarter profit of 24 cents a share at most.
However, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) rose over 3 percent and limited the decline of major indexes, as billionaire John Paulson's hedge fund said the shares may almost double.
Pulte Homes led gains in homebuilders even after new U.S. housing starts in October unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in six months.
The U.S. Commerce Department said housing starts dropped 10.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000 units, the lowest level since April and the percentage drop was the biggest since January.
The Dow Jones fell 37.41 to 10,400.01. Broader indexes also went lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 3.17 to 1,107. 05 and the Nasdaq fell 17.02 to 2,186.76.
