NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening flat after a surprisingly strong housing report.
The Dow Jones industrial average is down 11 points at 13,153. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index is up a fraction of a point at 1,405. The Nasdaq composite index is up six to 3,036.
Cisco Systems is leading the Dow, rising 7 percent. The world's largest maker of computer networking equipment reported earnings that beat expectations late Wednesday.
Before the market opened Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that construction of single-family homes and apartments dipped 1.1 percent in July compared with June. But the number of building permits jumped to 812,000, the most since August 2008.
