At the halfway point of the trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.66%) was down 21 points (-0.15%) to 13,436. The S&P 500 (^GSPC +1.18%) is down six points (-0.41%) to 1,436.
There was one economic release this morning which was slightly negative for stocks. The Commerce Department announced that new-home sales dropped slightly to an annualized 373,000 in August, down from 374,000 in July. That's still up 22% from a year ago.
For the past few months, the housing market has been picking up, and we are seeing that in numerous economic releases, including yesterday's home price indices. Yesterday it was announced that the Case-Shiller home price index rose 1.6% in July, down from June's 2.3% growth. The second release was the FHFA home price index, which rose 0.2% in July, below June's 0.7% growth. While both these numbers weren't great, economists were pleased that they were positive.
The markets as a whole are down slightly, but a few stocks are pushing the Dow higher.
Today's Dow leaders
Today's Dow leader is Boeing (NYSE: BA), up 1.35% ($0.94) to $70.32. The jet manufacturer has been the subject of a trade dispute between the U.S. and the EU. The EU today alleged that the U.S. still gives Boeing subsidies that were made illegal by a World Trade Organization ruling. The U.S. disagrees and says it has complied.
In other news, a report out of Reuters says Boeing competitor BAE Systems may break up if its proposed merger with Airbus parent EADS does not get approved. Fool analyst John Maxfield recently reviewed Boeing. Click here for his take.
Second for the day is Coca-Cola (KO 0.67%), up 0.72% ($0.27) to $37.95. The company and its chief competitor PepsiCo are up today on no real news. It happens. While there's no news, there's plenty to like about Coke. Fool analyst Andrew Marder recently wrote why investors should continue to love Coke, and Fool analyst Michael Lewis recently looked at Coke's plan for the future, dubbed 2020 Vision.
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