
Wall Street gave back early gains Wednesday as investors weighed signs of a worsening housing market against strong quarterly earnings from Amazon.com Inc. and Boeing Co.
The stock market still appeared jittery after Tuesday's 226-point tumble in the Dow Jones industrial average, triggered by a few disappointing profit reports and forecasts, notably from mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp.
Some market watchers worry that the deteriorating lending climate will cork this year's huge stream of dealmaking. Still, the acquisitions keep coming: Siemens AG Wednesday said it will sell its VDO auto parts unit to Germany's Continental AG in a $15.67 billion deal.
Wall Street is trying to assess whether problems involving risky home lending will hurt the broader economy.
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