Wall Street couldn't maintain the forward momentum achieved on Monday after weak housing data but the S&P 500 remains slightly higher on the day.

The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales fell for the first time in nine months. The 16% fall in November was sharper than expected.

There was better news for the manufacturing sector as new factory orders rose 1.1% in November. This was the third increase in a row.

The oil price continues to rise thanks to the cold weather. It has hit $82 a barrel.

The Dow Jones declined 34 points to 10,550, the Nasdaq Composite is down 1 to 2,308, but the broader S&P 500 has risen 1 to 1,134.

Swiss foods giant Nestle ruled itself out of the bid battle for the UK gum and chocolate maker Cadbury. Nestle has agreed to buy the North American pizza business of Cadbury's predator Kraft Foods for $3.7bn, which has allowed the US company to increase the cash element of its bid for Cadbury. Kraft was the biggest riser on the Dow Jones.

Kraft's original £10bn offer was 300p in cash plus 0.2589 of a Kraft share for each Cadbury shares. At a Kraft share price of $28.25 (1772p), the bid is worth 758p a share.

Kraft intends to offer the alternative of 360p in cash plus part of one of its shares for each cadbury share. The exact share element will depend on the Kraft share price and be set on 19 January.

Not all Kraft shareholders are happy with the bid. Berkshire Hathaway, the investment vehicle of celebrated investor Warren Buffett, owns around 9.4% of Kraft's issued share capital. It has urged shareholders to vote against a proposal to authorise the issue of up to 370m Kraft shares to facilitate the acquisition of Cadbury.

Berkshire Hathaway said authorising the proposal would effectively give the Kraft board a blank cheque with which to increase its bid for Cadbury. "Kraft stock, at its current price of $27, is a very expensive 'currency' to be used in an acquisition," Buffett said in a statement. He pointed out that the board of Kraft had spent $3.6bn in 2007 buying back Kraft shares at $33 each, "presumably because the directors and management thought the shares to be worth more."

Strong passenger figures from Continental Airlines boosted other airlines including UAL Corp, Delta Air Lines, AMR and Southwest Airlines.

Casino operators were boosted by positive news from Macau. Wynn Resorts was a big riser for the second day and it was joined by MGM Mirage and Las Vegas Sands.

Tenet Healthcare was the biggest riser on the S&P 500 because Goldman Sachs added the hospital chain to its 'conviction buy' list. Goldman also added electronics retailer RadioShack to the list.


S&P 500 - Risers
Tenet Hlthcre Corp. (THC) $6.11 +12.11%
Radioshack Corp. (RSH) $21.32 +7.83%
Nabors Inds Inc. (NBR) $24.88 +7.29%
M B I A Inc. (MBI) $4.48 +6.67%
Ford Motor Co (F) $10.94 +6.42%
Sprint Nxtel Corp. (S) $4.14 +6.15%
Hartford Fin Svc (HIG) $25.21 +5.66%
Manitowoc Co. (MTW) $10.97 +5.18%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $87.73 +5.17%
GANNETT CO INC (GCI) $16.14 +5.15%

S&P 500 - Fallers
H R Block Inc. (HRB) $21.71 -4.19%
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $22.16 -3.34%
IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) $109.18 -3.27%
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT) $35.61 -2.89%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $16.20 -2.70%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $19.45 -2.70%
Nicor Inc. (GAS) $41.67 -2.44%
DeVry Inc. (DV) $54.85 -2.42%
Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL) $20.59 -2.32%
C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (CHRW) $57.98 -2.29%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) $28.25 +2.99%
Bank Of America Corp. (BAC) $16.06 +2.36%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $43.65 +1.87%
Boeing Co. (BA) $57.14 +1.71%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $37.32 +0.84%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $58.97 +0.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $28.86 +0.66%
General Electric Co. (GE) $15.50 +0.32%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $52.60 +0.30%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $61.21 +0.15%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $16.20 -2.70%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $48.82 -1.99%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $18.65 -1.48%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $70.59 -1.45%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $130.57 -1.42%
Du Pont E I De Nemours and Co. (DD) $33.78 -1.40%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $56.36 -1.19%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $64.21 -0.73%
3M Co. (MMM) $82.43 -0.71%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.74 -0.67%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $87.73 +5.17%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $66.93 +4.64%
Nii Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $37.63 +4.07%
Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) $31.93 +3.74%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $23.87 +3.56%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $35.92 +2.88%
Liberty Media Corp. (LINTA) $11.48 +2.87%
Cerner Corp (CERN) $86.66 +2.84%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $139.03 +2.64%
Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) $18.59 +2.42%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $42.73 -3.41%
C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. (CHRW) $57.98 -2.29%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $33.34 -2.26%
Sigma-Aldrich Corp. (SIAL) $50.64 -1.71%
Express Scripts Inc. (ESRX) $87.04 -1.69%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $30.06 -1.60%
Genzyme Corp. (GENZ) $48.57 -1.58%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $24.49 -1.45%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $16.73 -1.41%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $22.68 -1.39%

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