Falling Home Sales Weigh Down Markets
Existing home sales fell to weigh down the markets during the midday with the Dow losing 28 points to 7857. Nasdaq fell 7 points to 1638.
First quarter earnings for Pactiv (NYSE: PTV) nearly tripled as production costs fell.
LodgeNet Interactive (Nasdaq: LNET) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the first quarter.
On the upside
Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB) swung to a first quarter loss but the results were better than expected.First quarter earnings for Pactiv (NYSE: PTV) nearly tripled as production costs fell.
LodgeNet Interactive (Nasdaq: LNET) reversed year ago losses to post a profit for the first quarter.
On the downside
Although Omniture (Nasdaq: OMTR) narrowed first quarter losses, expenses rose and the company forecast second quarter results below estimates.
First quarter earnings for VMware (NYSE: VMW) surged but the virtualization software maker warned that current quarter sales will disappoint prompting downgrades.
Intersil (Nasdaq: ISIL) blamed sharply lower revenue for first quarter earnings that plunged.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 7 points to 463.
