Stocks Wave Off Housing Surge

Stocks settled into a holding pattern at the open today, as optimism over a rosy housing report was tempered by a dividend cut from Alcoa. Stocks vacillated between gains and losses, with the Dow recently down 28, while the S&P fell about 2 points and the Nasdaq rose 5. The economic news was good—housing starts leapt 22.2% in February, sending home producers higher. But Alcoa dropped10% after it cut its dividend to save cash. (More stock market stories.)