11:39AM Homebuilders extend slide amid mortgage demand concerns (TOL, HOV, CTX, DHI, LEN, WM) by Tomi Kilgore
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Shares of homebuilders continued to slide amid concerns of declining mortgage demand, despite recent better-than-expected earnings reports from sector heavyweights. Toll Brothers (TOL) dropped $1.70, or 4.3 percent, to $37.75 after reporting fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $1.19 a share, a nickel a share above consensus analyst expectations. The stock had slumped 5.2 percent on Tuesday after Washington Mutual (WM) said fourth-quarter mortgage volume was expected to be half that of third-quarter levels. The stock and has now dropped 12 percent since closing at an all-time high of $43 on Dec. 1. Hovnanian (HOV), which reported better-than-expected earnings late Monday, was last down $4.29, or 4.8 percent, at $84.71, after losing 7.7 percent on Tuesday. Centex (CTX) was down $3.83 at $103.68, D.R. Horton (DHI) gave up $2.18 to $40.20 and Lennar (LEN) lost $3.37 to $92.24, after losing $5.29, $2.09 and $3.89, respectively, on Tuesday.
11:39AM Natural gas, crude ease from session's highs by Myra P. Saefong
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Prospects for a cold winter and rising economic demand lifted natural-gas futures past $7 to their highest level in nearly a year Wednesday, but profit taking has since taken prices away from the session's highs. January natural gas is up 5.8 cents at $6.78 per million British thermal units, after touching a high at $7.55. Oil futures climbed to a three-week high as well, before pulling back from the intraday highs after the Energy Department and American Petroleum Institute confirmed declines in crude inventories, along with increases in crude-product stocks. January crude is down 2 cents at $31.74 per barrel after a high at $32.63. |
