NEW YORK – The U.S. stock market is down at midday, hit by a combination of lower earnings at Johnson & Johnson, slipping confidence among homebuilders and falling shares at energy companies.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 12 points, 0.7 percent, to 2,006 in midday trading Tuesday. Energy company Denbury Resources fell the most among companies in the index.
The price of benchmark U.S. crude oil was down $1.86, or 4 percent, to $47.27 a barrel.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 139 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,372, pulled lower by a 3 percent fall in Johnson & Johnson's stock. The health care giant's profit dropped 28 percent in its latest quarter.
The Nasdaq fell 24 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,609.
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