U.S. stock markets plunged on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that sales of new one-family houses in December 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000, far fewer than the 370,000 that analysts had expected.
However, the Department of Commerce did revise the seasonally adjusted annual rate for new home sales in November from 355,000 to 370,000.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 0.54%, after earlier hitting an 11-week low at 10,126.81; the S&P 500 Index plunged 0.48%; and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.25%.