New home sales fell 7.6 percent in December compared to November. The decline to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000 homes contradicted a consensus prediction of a slight rise to 372,000.
New home sales, sluggish or animated, is an predictor of a vast array of future business activity from furniture sales to garage door openers.
In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 23.12 points, 0.23 percent, to 10,171.17. The Standard & Poo'rs 500 lost 3.20 points, 0.29 percent, to 1,088.97. The Nasdaq composite index lost 0.09 percent, 1.99 points, to 2,201.74.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bill rose 8/32 to yield 3.59 percent.
The euro fell to $1.4051 from Tuesday's $1.4079. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 89.37 from Tuesday's 89.64 yen.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 0.71 percent, 73,20, to 10,252.08.
Copyright 2010 United Press International.
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