Housing data sinks Wall Street

Stock markets in the United States fell yesterday as signs of weakness in housing and investors' worries that authorities might be curbing stimulus efforts too soon sparked caution.

World central banks said they would scale back infusions of U.S. dollars, fueling unease triggered a day earlier when stocks sold off following the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to slow purchases of mortgage debt. That program has been one of the key pillars of the Fed's efforts to support mortgage lending.

Yesterday's losses drove the benchmark S&P 500, which has rallied nearly 60% in six months from 12-year lows, to its worst two-day drop in three weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial averagedropped 41.11 points, or 0.4%, to 9707.44. The S&P 500 fell 10.09 points, or 1%, to 1050.78. The Nasdaq slid 23.81 points, or 1.1%, to 2107.61.