Wall St slips as data offsets earnings

New York - US stocks slipped on Monday as gains from Halliburton and Boeing were erased after a homebuilder index fell to its lowest point in more than a year, sparking new fears about the pace of a recovery.

Halliburton, which worked on the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, reported profit surged 83% on strong US onshore drilling. Halliburton shares jumped 3.5% to $28.48.

Boeing Co was one of the top boosts to the Dow, rising 1.3% to $62.65, after a top executive said the planemaker will announce a significant number of new orders in the coming days. The company has also taken an order for 30 777 wide-bodies from Dubai-based Emirates.

But the market slipped after US homebuilder sentiment fell more than expected in July to the lowest level in more than a year after a popular homebuyer tax credit expired, the National Association of Home Builders said on Monday.

The Dow Jones US Home Construction index shed 1.3%, weighed down by a 1.7% drop in DR Horton to $9.93.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 17.64 points, to 10,080.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 2.80 points, to 1,062.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 6.59 points, to 2,172.46.

Investors will watch quarterly earnings this week as they search for clues on the strength of the recovery in light of disappointing economic data recently. This week, 12 Dow components and 122 S&P 500 companies are set to report quarterly results.

"The real focus is going to be on earnings," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco. "It's kind of open season, whichever way the news comes is the way the market is going to work."

After the closing bell, technology bellwether International Business Machines will report results, with analysts worrying it was in danger of missing the average revenue estimate as the weaker euro dents sales in Europe.

Texas Instruments is also due to report.

  - Reuters