Stocks slide a day after rallying as investors look to reports on factory orders, home sales

Stocks fall as traders await factory, housing data

NEW YORK — The stock market fell in early trading Tuesday as investors pulled back from the market a day after a big rally.

The early movement Tuesday was not surprising given that the Dow Jones industrials soared more than 150 points Monday on upbeat manufacturing reports in the U.S. and China.

Investors awaited a Commerce Department report on factory orders and the National Association of Realtors’ numbers on pending home sales. Analysts expect factory orders to have risen a moderate 0.5 percent, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Analysts expect the pending home sales index to fall 2 percent, after rising for nine straight months.

Ahead of the reports, the Dow industrials fell 38.02, or 0.4 percent, to 10,545.94. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.06, or 0.1 percent, to 1,131.93, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 5.76, or 0.3 percent, to 2,302.66.

Augstums reported from Charlotte, N.C.