Housing Data Further Inhibit Stocks

Updated from 9:57 a.m. EDT

U.S. stocks kept falling after a slightly weak open Thursday as investors digested worse-than-expected data concerning the capsized housing market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 132 points to 11,450, while the S&P 500 dropped 11 points to 1271. The Nasdaq gave up 25 points to 2301.

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales declined 2.6% to 4.86 million units in June, falling short of economists' expectations for 4.95 million units. Median single-family home prices fell 6.1% year over year in June.

"We still think home sales have some way yet to fall, but they are not going to keep dropping at the June pace," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, in an email. He predicted further price drops for U.S. homes.

The Labor Department also released jobless claims for the week ended July 19. Initial claims were up 34,000 to 406,000 for the week, and the July 12 figure was revised to 372,000 from 366,000.

The downdraft in stocks came as traders sorted through another slew of corporate quarterly reports.

Following the close of Wednesday's trading, online merchant Amazon.com (AMZN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) beat earnings estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Elsewhere in technology, chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) matched analyst expectations despite a decline in third-quarter profit. Qualcomm also settled a patent dispute with cell-phone maker Nokia (NOK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Meanwhile, homebuilder Ryland (RYL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) posted a loss that was worse than its year-ago results, while Pulte Homes (PHM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) narrowed its own loss.

Before the new day's trading got underway, investors heard quarterly results from another heap of companies. Dow Chemical (DOW - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) reported a 27% drop in profit on rising energy and materials costs.