• Blackberry Blackout: Outage freezes e-mails.
• Mortgage Minus: Applications drop, says Mortgage Bankers Association.
• Volvo Sold: Ford inks deal with Chinese car maker.
• Hopeless Housing: New home sales slide.

The Lowdown

Stocks closed mostly flat Wednesday as the Christmas holiday loomed and poor new home sales data obscured visions of recovery dancing in traders' heads.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 points to finish at 10466. The S&P 500 picked up 3 to end at 1121 and the Nasdaq rose 17 to 2270.

The Commerce Department released a report on new home sales showing an 11.8% drop in new home sales for November as a huge foreclosure inventory clogs the national market.

Another Commerce Department report Wednesday showed personal income increased 0.4% compared to October, while economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast income rose 0.5% in November. Spending last month increased by 0.5%. Economists had projected a 0.6% gain in spending.

The personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.2% in November compared to October. It rose 0.3% in October. Year over year, the PCE price index increased 1.5% in November.

In other markets, gold futures were down. The dollar fell against both the euro and the yen and Treasurys rose.

Crude oil futures traded on the Nymex rose $2.07 to $76.47 a barrel, as of 4:02 p.m.

As many as 36 million Blackberry users worldwide suffered an e-mail blackout overnight, hitting shares of Research In Motion (RIMM) as competing networks touted improved reliability.

The moves followed Tuesday's market climb after a positive report on existing home sales helped stocks in tallying a third straight day of gains, with the materials sector pacing the rise. The Commerce Department's downward revision of third-quarter gross domestic profit did not discourage traders, who said the lowered estimate could justify a longer period of low interest rates.

Among stocks in focus for Wednesday, Ford Motor (F) said it has agreed to all the substantive terms over the sale of its Volvo unit to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Ford expects to finalize the agreement by the end of the first quarter of 2010, though financing details and government approval still need to be worked out before a deal can be signed.

Shares of Micron Technology rose after the company said late Tuesday that it swung to a profit, helped by strong sales of memory processors.

The Reuters/University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment rose to 72.5, less than its earlier forecast, but still up from 67.4 in November. The figure was lower than the preliminary 73.4 reading, reported on Dec. 11.. REPORT