Markets Open Lower

Wall Street opened lower today, as traders continued to digest mixed second-quarter earnings and reports came that Bank of America plans to cut branches. Also, a widely watched housing index showed a slight uptick in home prices from April to May.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow was down 15 points, or less than 0.2 percent.

The broader S&P 500 was down about 0.3 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was essentially even.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis told investors that he plans to close about 10 percent of his bank's 6,100 branches, as the battered bank tries to cut costs after two decades of continual growth, though the bank moments ago denied the 10 percent figure.

The monthly Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities showed that home prices edged up 0.5 percent from April to May.

Despite the uptick, home prices in the 20 major cities are 17.1 percent below May 2008.

-- Frank Ahrens
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