(MENAFN- AFP) US stocks dropped in early trade Tuesday following a big decline in consumer confidence due to worries about the job market.
About 60 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,052.88, down 18.34 points (0.11 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 2.82 (0.14 percent) to 1,974.98, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 11.24 (0.25 percent) to 4,494.61.
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 86.0 from 93.4 in August. Overall views of current business conditions were essentially unchanged, but views of job availability declined significantly.
US home prices rose in July at annual rate of 6.7 percent, slower than in June, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of 20 cities.
EBay jumped 6.9 percent after announcing it would spin off PayPal to help it compete better in the fast-moving online payments segment. Earlier eBay had rejected calls by activist investor Carl Icahn to spin off PayPal.
Ford Motor dropped for a second day in a row, this time by 2.9 percent, following a slashed outlook released Monday. Ford projected 2014 profits of $6 billion, well below the $7-8 billion previously forecast.
Dow member Johnson & Johnson rose 0.2 percent as it unveiled a $1.75 billion acquisition of Alios BioPharma, a private company specializing in treatments for viral diseases.
Online real estate listings company Move bolted 36.8 percent higher after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. announced it would buy the service for $950 million. Zillow, a rival real estate listing company, fell 3.7 percent.
Bond prices were unchanged. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury held steady at 2.49 percent, the same level as Monday, while the 30-year stayed at 3.18 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
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