June Housing Starts' 9% Drop Puts Housing Stocks On Shakey Footing

Stocks related to home construction opened sharply lower Thursday on news of a 9.3 percent drop in June housing construction. The U.S. Census Bureau said housing starts in June fell to 893,000 units, from 1 million units in May. Still, the June figure is up 2.7 percent from a year earlier. Housing permits grew 2.6 percent in June to 631,000 units, from 615,000 in May. D.R. Horton Inc.

fell 2.8 percent to $24 a share; M/I Homes Inc

was off 2.6 percent at $23.13; Toll Brothers Inc.

fell nearly 2 percent to $35.56 and New Home Co.

was down more than 2 percent to $13.02 a share. The exchange-traded fund SPDR S&P Homebuilders

was off about ` percent at $31.02.