NEW YORK -- Stocks are lower at midday as unrest simmers in Europe.
Just before noon on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average is off 27 points at 13,430. the Standard & Poor's 500 index is down eight at 1,434. And the Nasdaq composite index is down 29 at 3,089.
European stocks are having their worst day in months as unrest threatens to boil over in Greece, where deep budget cuts have eroded people's living standards, and in Spain.
In the U.S., the median price of new homes sold in August rose by a record amount, while sales of new homes dipped slightly.
Stronger data on the U.S. housing markethave helped insulate stocks in recent weeks from fears about the global economy. Stocks' other main source of support, the Federal Reserve's program to boost the economy by pumping money in, lost some luster Tuesday after a key Fed official expressed skepticism about the plan.
"There was some optimism coming into the market, and that's usually when you're most vulnerable to sell-offs when there are negative headlines" like the Fed official's comments, unrest in Europe and weaker data about the U.S. economy, said Todd Salamone, director of research at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
Indexes had risen to levels they hadn't beat for months or years, Salamone said, creating "an almost perfect storm in terms of the vulnerability to short-term impacts.'
The dip in home sales hurt homebuilder stocks. PulteGroup Inc. fell 5.5 percent, KB Home 5.4 percent and Beazer Homes USA Inc. 4.7 percent.
European stocks were having their worst day in months as unrest threatened to boil over in Greece, where deep budget cuts have eroded people's living standards, and Spain, where citizens are resisting a likely bailout from international lenders. Earlier, Asian stocks closed lower.
The euro fell sharply against the dollar, and the price of oil dropped below $90 per barrel for the first time since early August.
Rising demand for lower-risk investments fed strong bids for U.S. Treasury debt. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.63 percent from 1.67 percent late Tuesday. A bond's yield falls as its price increases.
The moves come a day after the worst sell-off for the S&P 500 in three months. Charles Plosser, president of the Fed's Philadelphia branch, told an audience Tuesday that the Fed's effort to support the economy would likely fall short of its goals.
Stocks had rallied this summer before and after the Fed announced the plan to buy $40 billion in mortgage bonds each month until the economy strengthens. As doubts about it sink in, stocks are falling back to where they were when the deal was announced.
Below, Katie Stockton of MKM Partners provides discusses buying opportunities in the markets on CNBC.