Wall Street was lower in midday trade on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.22 percent lower to 13,619.81.
The Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.36 percent to 2,660.48, while the S&P 500 was down 0.44 percent to 1,525.12.
An already unsettled market was looking forward to a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, in which he was expected to make comments that could indicate a coming rise in interest rates based on concerns about inflation.
In addition, the dollar hit a new historic low against the euro. Several companies issued outlooks that were less than comforting.
For example, Home Depot (NYSE: HD) said that its earnings will be lower than had been hoped this year, at least partly due to slowdowns in the housing market.
Despite that negative report, Home Depot added 44 cents to $40.67.
Sears (NAS: SHLD) was not so lucky, dropping $15.09 to $156.32 after it said that sales have been weak in appliances as well as for other products.
Elsewhere in the retail sector, discount retailer Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) fell 84 cents to $47.66.
Among house builders, DR Horton (NYSE: DHR) was 52 cents lower to $19.27 after it said that orders were down in its fiscal third quarter from the same period a year ago and that it expects the market to “remain challenging”.
Gainers on the day included Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG), which saw share prices rise $1.71 to $36.14 after it raised its full-year outlook.
Carmakers were also higher after JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) issued upgrades to both Ford (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM).
Ford added 16 cents to $9.24, while GM was 91 cents higher to $37.68.