Stocks have fallen sharply Wednesday after the government said new home sales dropped 3.6 percent in September.
Goldman Sachs added to investors' unease by reducing its expectation for the nation's economic output. The government's report on gross domestic product for the third quarter is due Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average is down 119 at 9,763. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 21 at 1,043. And the Nasdaq composite index has fallen 56 to 2,060.
Nine stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1.6 billion shares compared with 1.4 billion Tuesday.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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