The government's report Wednesday that new homes sales fell to an annual pace of 300,000 was far weaker than expected. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast sales would drop nearly 19 percent to 410,000.
On Tuesday, an unexpected drop in sales of existing homes also hurt stocks. Existing homes are a far bigger part of the market than new homes.
At midday, the Dow Jones industrials are down 28 points at 10,265. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 6 at 1,090, while the Nasdaq composite index is down 12 at 2,249.
