Stocks drop as new home sales unexpectedly fall

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are lower as an unexpected drop in new home sales raises questions about how soon the economy will recover.

The report Wednesday comes as traders are also concerned over the shifting landscape for financial regulation.

The Commerce Department says sales of new homes fell 7.6 percent in December. Sales came to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, below the 370,000 forecast by a Thomson Reuters survey of economists.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 29 at 10,165. It had been down 10 ahead of the report. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 3 at 1,089, while the Nasdaq composite index is down 1 at 2,202.