金融英语阅读：US stocks mixed as gains from new home sales fade

　　Stocks traded in a tight range Friday as early gains from a strong report on new home sales dried up by late morning. Mixed news from earnings reports and Greece's decision to trigger a bailout package kept the market in check.

　　The Dow Jones industrial average is on pace for its eighth consecutive weekly gain, which would be its best run since a similar streak ended in January 2004.

　　Stephen Carl, head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group in New York, said momentum from the nearly two straight months of gains could be waning. "It's been quite a run," Carl said.

　　Analysts have been saying for weeks that the market could be primed for a pullback. The Dow is up nearly 8 percent over the past two months and have been on a nearly unbroken path upward. That kind of pattern leads market-watchers to believe that investors are becoming less discerning in their stock picking, leaving the market vulnerable if sentiment shifts for the worse.

　　Sales of new homes jumped 27 percent in March, bouncing off a record low in February, the Commerce Department reported. It was the best month since July and the biggest monthly increase in 47 years. The gains were likely fueled by customers who are trying to qualify for federal tax credits that will expire at the end of this month. Sales could again slide once the credit expires, which might have tempered the excitement over March's sales figures.

　　Stocks got another dose of good news on the housing sector on Thursday, when the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes also rose last month.

　　Joe Heider, principal at Rehmann in Cleveland, said the home sales report is a strong indication that consumers are growing more confident about the economy.

　　"We're seeing that people have the confidence to make the biggest purchase of their lives," Heider said. "And that bodes well for the markets."

　　Shares of homebuilders including PulteGroup Inc. and Lennar Corp. rose for a second day as hopes rose that the troubled housing sector may finally be on the mend. Housing has been one of the hardest-hit sectors in the economy, helping to the economy into recession in late 2007.

　　In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.19, or less than 0.1 percent, to 11,132.10. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.41, or 0.1 percent, to 1,207.26, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 7.24, or 0.3 percent, to 2,511.83.

　　The Dow had been up as much as 50 points after the home sales report. Before the report, major indexes had been slightly lower following mixed earnings from two Dow components and a report on durable goods orders. There was also skepticism that the latest effort to resolve Greece's debt problems would work out in the long term.