The New York equities markets fell on Tuesday in response to numbers showing the number of existing homes sold were below predictions even though the figures showed that the housing sector continues to prosper as the number of homes sold during the month was the third largest ever.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 percent to 10,519.58, the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 percent to 2,137.25, and the S&P 500 declined by 0.3 percent to 1,217.58.

The news about housing sales sent shares in home builders down. KBH homes saw the biggest loss, declining by 1.7 percent to $70.96. Lennar fell 1.3 percent to $58.93, while Pulte Homes lost 0.8 percent to $83.48. The home furnishings sector was also down on the day. La-Z-Boy blamed rising oil prices as it announced that it expects second-quarter sales figures to be down as it fell 3 percent to $13.57. Ethan Allen Interiors lost 1.2 percent to $31.94, and Furniture Brands International also lost 1.2 percent to end the day at $19.27.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mostly up, except for Merck, which fell by 1.2 percent as it still was feeling the effects of the personal-injury judgment against the company on Friday. Elsewhere, the sector did not seem to be bothered by Merck’s troubles. Amylin Pharmaceuticals was up 27.7 percent to $28 on the announcement that test results were positive for a weekly injection treatment for type 2 diabetes patients. Eli Lilly, which helped develop the drug with Amylin, was up 1.9 percent to $53.72, while Alkermes, which developed the injection system that will be used with the drug, added 11.6 percent to $17.67.