The New York equities markets were lower at midday on Thursday after new data on retail sales renewed fears of rising inflation among investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.3 percent lower to 11,513.46, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1 percent to 2,225.89 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.2 percent to 1,314.98.
Several sectors were affected by the International Monetary Fund’s lowered forecast for US growth in 2007, based on the slowing housing market. Homebuilder DR Horton saw its shares drop 2.6 percent to $23.03, while toolmaker Black and Decker was 1.8 percent lower to $79.96 and home improvement retailer Home Depot declined by 1.5 percent to $36.61.
Other decliners included Ford Motor, which dropped 1.9 percent to $9.02 on rumors that the carmaker could have a pre-tax loss of $8 billion this year.
Satellite radio, however, saw gains. Sirius Satellite Radio was 2.5 percent higher to $4.13 following gains by XM Satellite Radio on an upgrade from “netural” to “outperform” from Credit Suisse. XM was 11 percent higher to $13.88 on the upgrade.
Microsoft added 1.2 percent to $26.30 after it said its Zune digital music player will be available during the upcoming Christmas shopping season. Zune is being marketed as an alternative to Apple’s iPod.