Cloudy day

Evidence of continued weakness in housing and mortgages put a damper on markets Monday. Just like we have been seeing, mortgage lenders took another hit today. Countrywide shares dropped 4.8%. Its rivals were battered too, as Thornburg Mortgage dropped 12% and Novastar Financial retreated 7.5%. U.S. Steel agreed to acquire Stelco for $1.1 billion and Home Depot's board agreed to sell its struggling wholesale supply unit for $8.5 billion, or roughly 18% less than it had originally agreed. Crude-oil prices are back on the rise, growin 88 cents today. Overall, it felt like a cloudy day. . . without rain. DJIA -56.74 Nasdaq -15.44 S&P 500 -12.58