Stocks Edged Lower After Housing Data

U.S. stocks edged down on Friday and finished mostly lower for the week after the report that US home sales plunged 5.1% in January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 29.93 points, or 0.19%, to finish at 16,103.30. The blue-chip index dipped 0.3% for the week. TThe S&P 500 dipped 3.53 points, or 0.19%, to close at 1,836.25, and it lost 0.1% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.13 points, or 0.10%, to close
at 4,263.41, but still finished up 0.5% for the week.

Sales of existing U.S. homes plummeted in January to the worst pace in 18 months. Cold weather, limited supplies of homes on the market and higher buying costs held back purchases. The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.62 million units last month. That was down 5.1 percent from the December pace. The sales rate declined 5.1 percent over the
previous 12 months.

Groupon (GRPN) said late Thursday it expects a first-quarter per-share loss of 2 cents to 4 cents. Revenue increased 20% to $768.4 million in the fourth quarter 2013, compared with $638.3 million in the fourth quarter 2012. Operating income was $13.4 million in the fourth quarter 2013, compared with an operating loss of $12.9 million in the fourth quarter 2012.

Charter Communications Inc., the unsuccessful bidder for rival cable provider Time Warner Cable, moved to a profit for its fourth quarter. Charter earned $39 million, or 35 cents per share, for the period that ended Dec. 31 versus a loss of $40 million, or 41 cents per share, in the prior year. Revenue increased 12 percent, to $2.15 billion from $1.91 billion.

Barnes & Noble Inc., the struggling bookseller, received a proposal from G Asset Management LLC to acquire 51 percent of the company at $22 a share, valuing the total business at $1.32 billion.