Opening Bell Report

The markets opened lower as another report of falling home prices triggered worries of a prolonged housing slump.  The Dow lost 76 points to 12,748 while Nasdaq fell 18 points to 2389.

On the upside

AT&T (NYSE: T) posted higher earnings due to strong demand for wireless and enterprise services.  The results met analysts' expectations.

Analysts upgraded National City (NYSE: NCC) due to valuation.  The bank raised $7 billion which helped to stabilize its balance sheet, but diluted existing shareholders.

Millicom International Cellular (Nasdaq: MICC) posted higher revenues and profits while adding 2.8 million subscribers.  The carrier operates in developing countries throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.

On the downside

Royal Bank of Scotland (NYSE: RBS) posted an $11 billion loss with another $8 billion in anticipated write-downs to cover mortgage-related losses.

Shares of Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) tumbled after the online movie rental service warned of slowing subscription sales and higher costs to ramp up its Internet delivery service.

Texas Instruments (Nasdaq: TXN) warned that 2nd quarter results may miss revenue targets due to the slowing economy.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 3 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 8 points to 709.