us stock indexes opened lower and struggled to continue the uptrend after scoring strong weekly gains in the wake of the federal reserve’s decision to refrain from raising interest rates again last week the sp 500 spx dropped 18 points or 04 to 4392 while the dow jones industrial average djia fell 05 and the nasdaq composite comp was off 02 in us economic data construction on new american homes jumped 217 in may as homebuilders ramp up building singlefamily homes to meet strong demand from buyers housing starts rose to a 163 million annual pace last month from 134 million in april the government said tuesday disappointment over china’s stimulus measures also weighed on us stocks the people’s bank of china cut two more key lending rates on tuesday for the first time in 10 months in a bid to support the nation’s slowing economic recovery the oneyear loan prime rate was cut to 355 and the fiveyear rate was cut to 42 according to the pboc