Stocks Fall as Home Sales Slide

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Stocks ended lower Tuesday after data showed that the red-hot housing market cooled slightly in July, and oil prices held above $65 a barrel amid lingering global supply concerns.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 50.31, or 0.5 percent, to 10,519.58. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dipped 4.14, or 0.3 percent, to 1,217.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 4.16, or 0.2 percent, to 2,137.25.


Shares of local homebuilders fell after the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned homes dropped 2.6 percent in July as mortgage rates crept up although the pace of sales was still the third-highest ever. L.A.-area homebuilders KB Home and Ryland Group Inc. slipped on the news 1.7 percent to $70.96 and 1.3 percent to $70.75, respectively.


Traders also worried about the volatility of crude futures, which seesawed during the session on supply concerns. A barrel of light crude finally settled at $65.71, up 6 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


Other local movers included Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp., whose shares gained 5.3 percent to $26.22 after the El Segundo-based sporting goods retailer announced late Monday that Barry Emerson was named its new senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. Emerson, the former chief finance officer at Elite Information Group Inc., will start as CFO next month.


Tetra Tech Inc. rose 1.3 percent to $15.86 after the Pasadena-based environmental management services company signed a 5-year, $43 million contract with the Environmental Protection Agency to support efforts to protect the nation’s waters and watersheds.


Shares of WPT Enterprises Inc. sank 2.4 percent to $13.02 after the L.A.-based creator of World Poker Tour television series reported, late Monday, a second-quarter loss of 2 cents a share. Analysts had expected a loss of 1 cent.


And Teledyne Technologies Inc. fell 2.2 percent to $36.43 after a subsidiary of the L.A.-based firm was one of three companies awarded a multimillion-dollar contract by Boeing Co. to develop the U.S. Army’s unmanned aerial vehicle program.

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