Manufacturing sputters as housing slump spreads

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa Wed Nov 1, 4:47 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturing growth edged closer to stagnation in October as a housing-led economic slowdown hurt demand across a wide variety of sectors, according to reports on Wednesday.

Weak construction spending and pending home sales data suggested the housing market's misfortunes were far from over, and its effects were being felt in other areas of the economy.