Stocks Mostly Lower, Economic Data in Focus

U.S. stocks began mainly lower on Tuesday as a handful of economic data is in focus, including a pick-up in home prices in May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 28.08 points to 13,044.93. The S&P 500 index lost 1.94 points to 1,383.36, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.71 points to 2,948.55.

U.S. consumers reduced spending for the second straight month despite a sharp increase in wages, boosting their savings rate to the highest level in a year. Personal spending fell less than 0.1% in June, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Spending for May was revised down slightly to a 0.1% decline.

In a sign that the U.S. housing market is recovering, home prices rose for the second straight month in May, according to an industry report issued Tuesday. Home prices climbed 2.2% compared with a month earlier, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index. Prices are still off 0.7% compared with May 2011, but that’s the lowest year-over-year decline in 18 months, according to David Blitzer, a spokesman for S&P.

Deutsche Bank (DBK.DE) said it will slash 1,900 jobs in an effort to achieve cost savings of about 3 billion euros ($3.67 billion) as part of a broader strategic overhaul unveiled by the bank’s new chiefs on Tuesday. The bank will reduce headcount in corporate banking and securities by 1,500 and cut jobs mainly outside of Germany.

United States Steel Corp. said Tuesday its second-quarter net income fell by more than half as slower global economic growth hurt demand in a number of its core markets. The Pittsburgh manufacturer earned $101 million, or 62 cents per share, compared with $222 million, or $1.33 a share, a year ago. Revenue fell 2 percent to $5.02 billion.

UBS (VTX:UBSN.VX) reported a surprise slump in profit, hit by a big trading loss on Facebook’s (FB.O) stock market debut and a drop in revenue that pushed its investment bank into the red. Second-quarter net profit more than halved to 425 million Swiss francs, the Swiss bank said on Tuesday, in a dramatic miss of analysts’ forecasts.

Strong sales overseas, particularly in China, gave a lift to Coach Inc.’s fiscal fourth-quarter net income, but tight-fisted shoppers in North America led to lower-than-expected growth at factory stores. Revenue increased 13 percent to $1.16 billion from $1.03 billion, but fell short of the $1.2 billion that analysts polled by FactSet predicted.