Wall St falls on housing, weak tech outlooks

By Cal Mankowski

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks declined on Tuesday after a housing index fell to a record low and gloomy outlooks by semiconductor companies Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Novellus Systems Inc weighed on the technology sector.

A report by the National Association of Realtors showed pending sales of previously owned homes in February fell to the lowest on records dating in 2001. The Dow Jones home construction index fell 3.6 percent as shares of home builders such as D.R. Horton Inc slid.

AMD, the second largest maker of computer processors, gave a first-quarter revenue estimate below expectations after Monday's close and said it would cut 10 percent of its work force. Its stock was down 3 percent to $6.14.

Shares of Novellus, a semiconductor equipment maker, fell 7 percent to $22.08 after it said first-quarter earnings would be lower than expected and revenue would be at the low end of its forecast range.

"Tech can't seem to get going," said Todd Leone, head of listed trading at Cowen & Co in New York. "The economy is a little weaker, there's talk of recession and some of the earnings numbers are a little weaker."

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 38.59 points, or 0.31 percent, to 12,573.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 6.27 points, or 0.46 percent, to 1,366.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 12.35 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,352.48.

Shares of Washington Mutual Inc, the largest U.S. savings and loan, sank after the company received a $7 billion capital infusion but said that mortgage problems will lead to a $1.1 billion quarerly loss.

Shares of WaMu were down 9.7 percent to $11.86. The company, one of the biggest U.S. mortgage home lenders, also said it was slashing its quarterly dividend to 1 cent per share from 15 cents.