Wall St. eases at Monday open

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were lower at Monday's open as investors considered the housing slump and awaited economic reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average straddled the breakeven point. The Nasdaq composite index eased 0.2 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 0.2 percent.

Among stocks in the news Monday: Activision (Charts), MetLife (Charts, Fortune 500), UnitedHealth Group (Charts, Fortune 500), Amgen (Charts, Fortune 500), Lennar (Charts, Fortune 500) and TXU (Charts, Fortune 500).

There are some readings on U.S. economic strength due Monday, particularly from the manufacturing sector. But additional weakness there could actually lift stocks if it raises hope for a bigger rate cut by the Federal Reserve at its Dec. 11 meeting.

First up is the ISM index, a survey of executives in the manufacturing sector, due at 10 a.m. ET. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect the reading to fall for the fifth straight month to 50.5 in November from 50.9 in October. If it slips below 50, that would indicated that the growth in the manufacturing sector has stopped and it has started to contract. The closely watched reading hasn't been below 50 since January.

Then at noon, automakers are due to start reporting their November sales. Sales tracker Edmunds.com forecasts that General Motors (Charts, Fortune 500) sales will be down 1.3 percent from a year earlier, while Ford Motor (Charts, Fortune 500) sales are forecast to be essentially unchanged. Privately-held Chrysler could see an 11 percent decline.

A modest expected gain at Toyota Motor (Charts) and forecasts of more solid gains at Honda Motor (Charts) and Nissan could trim the traditional Big Three's share of the U.S. market to 51.2 percent, according to Edmunds. If it falls below 50 percent, it would mark only the second time on record, after July of this year, that domestic brands fell behind the import brands in U.S. sales.

Stocks in the news Monday include video game publisher Activision (Charts). On Sunday, Vivendi said it plans to buy a controlling stake in the company and combine it with its game unit. The deal is expected to create a rival to Electronic Arts (Charts). Shares of Vivendi gained 2.6 percent in its home market in Paris.

Home builder Lennar (Charts, Fortune 500) said it has partnered with the real estate arm of Morgan Stanley (Charts, Fortune 50selling the new joint venture a portfolio of homes and property for $525 million. Lennar, the nation's largest home builder by revenue, has taken large charges due to the reduction of the value of its holdings and costs for getting out of land options.

Personal computer maker Dell (Charts, Fortune 500) said it would partner with advertising giant WPP Group (Charts) to create a new marketing agency that would handle $4.5 billion in Dell accounts.

In global trade, major markets in Asia finished the session lower. European stocks were mixed in morning trading.