Stocks Edge lower in Early Trade
(AP) -- U.S. stocks edged lower in early trading on Tuesday as investors pored through some weak company earnings reports. Technology stocks were among the biggest decliners. The market is coming off a three-day winning streak.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 34 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,195 as of 9:58 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped less than one point to 2,033. The Nasdaq lost three points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,901.
REBOOT: IBM shares tumbled 5.4 percent a day after the company's latest earnings report showed that weak hardware sales and a strong dollar brought down its revenue down. It was the 14th straight quarter of revenue declines. The stock weighed heavily on the 30-stock Dow, losing $8.03 to $141.21.
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BUMPY RIDE: Harley-Davidson sank 11.6 percent after the company reported a drop in third-quarter profit and cut its forecasts for motorcycle shipments. Harley shares slid $6.51 to $49.54.
YUM SPLIT: Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, rose 3.4 percent after saying it plans to spin off its China business, which has stumbled recently. The stock added $2.47 to $74.18.
THIS NEW HOUSE: The Commerce Department said housing starts rose 6.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million homes. A 17 percent surge in multi-family housing, which includes apartments, accounts for nearly all of the increase.
OVERSEAS MARKETS: In Europe, Germany's DAX fell 0.2 percent, while the CAC-40 in France was 0.8 percent lower. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.3 percent. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.1 percent, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4 percent.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude added 47 cents to $46.36 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 14 cents to $48.75 in London.
BONDS: U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.07 percent from 2.02 percent the day before.
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