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 NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street staggered through an erratic session Tuesday, alternately surging and retreating as investors parsed unimpressive data on home sales and consumer confidence and awaited the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped, soared nearly 100 points, and then pulled back to trade in negative territory again — much as it did Monday, when the blue chips rose by triple digits only to give up the gains and finish lower.
A slight decline in May new home sales provided investors with some relief, but the report wasn't much to cheer about. The Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes fell 1.6 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 915,000 units. It was the fourth decline in the past five months — in April, new home sales had jumped by 12.5 percent.
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