MW: U.S. stocks offer muted reply to home-sales data
By Kate Gibson
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks tilted slightly lower Wednesday after the National Association of Realtors reported mixed data on the housing industry. The trade group said sales of existing homes declined 0.9% last month, but January's number was revised higher. After opening nearly unchanged, stocks mostly tallied mild declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.43% fell 17.49 points to 13,152.70. The S&P 500 SPX -0.34% shed 2.71 points to 1,402.81. The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.15% gained nearly 1 point to 3,075.02.
