House builders were mixed on Wall Street Thursday after the Commerce Department said that sales of new homes rose by 4.8 percent in September over August’s numbers.
The news initially sent markets higher, but the indices returned to declines on the reality that the increase had more to do with a revision lower in August’s numbers and discounted prices on homes in September in an attempt to sell inventory than with a real rise in sales.
At midday in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.26 percent lower to 13,639.08.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.84 percent to 2,751.43 while the S&P 500 was down 0.34 percent to 1,510.69.
Durable goods orders that were down by 1.7 percent in September, a bigger drop than had been anticipated, also weighed on the markets.
The mixed results among house builders also had to do with quarterly results.
Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) was down 29 cents to $14.70 after it said it lost $787.9 million in the quarter on a pre-tax charge and new orders that were down 37 percent from the previous year at the same time.
Elsewhere in the sector, KB Home (NYSE: KBH) dropped 27 cents to $26.54, but Lennar (NYSE: LEN) and Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) each added 26 cents to $22.84 and $10.27 respectively.
The Nasdaq was hurt by a decline by software group Symantec (NAS: SYMC), which dropped $2.51 to $18.51 on a disappointing outlook.
Also on the Nasdaq, cable television and internet service provider Comcast (NAS: CMCSA) fell $1.85 to $22 after it said profits were down by 54 percent in the third quarter amid a competitive environment.