Many analysts said the worst slump in housing in 16 years is likely to deepen in coming months, reflecting the recent turmoil in credit markets, which has caused lenders to tighten their standards.

The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of existing homes dipped by 0.2 percent in July, compared to June, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.75 million units.

The median price of a home sold last month slid to $230,200, down by 0.6 percent from the median price a year ago. It marked the 12th consecutive month that home prices have declined, a record stretch.

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ATLANTA — Shares of The Home Depot Inc. rose almost 2 percent Monday as investors awaited word of a deal that the retailer was selling its wholesale distribution business for nearly $2 billion less than originally planned.

The reduced sale price of $8.5 billion for the Home Depot Supply division, which was confirmed on Sunday by a person with direct knowledge of the situation, reflected turbulent credit conditions and a tightening housing market.

As Wall Street awaited a possible announcement, analysts welcomed the reports of a deal by the world's largest home improvement store chain.

Home Depot declined Monday to comment on the deal.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Three more investor advisory groups have come out in favor of Breeden Capital Management LP's proxy campaign seeking three seats on H&R Block Inc.'s board of directors, the hedge fund said Monday.

Egan Jones, Proxy Governance and Taft-Hartley Advisory Services recommended that shareholders vote to replace three existing board members with Breeden's nominees during the election scheduled for Sept. 6.

They join two other advisory firms — Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. — who last week recommended nominees from the Greenwich, Conn.-based fund.

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ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Courts in the Netherlands and France refused Monday to grant injunctions blocking Mittal Steel Co. NV's proposed $41 billion acquisition of rival steel maker Arcelor SA.

Legal actions launched in Rotterdam by three hedge funds and in Paris by an activist shareholder were both rejected by judges, clearing hurdles to the creation of the world's largest steel maker as measured by sales.

The steel companies already call themselves ArcelorMittal.

In the Netherlands, three funds — SRM Global Master Fund Ltd., Trafalgar Catalyst Fund and Trafalgar Entropy Fund — went to court last week seeking to block the first phase of the two-step deal, when Rotterdam-based Mittal is to combine with ArcelorMittal SA, a Luxembourg holding company.

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PITTSBURGH — United States Steel Corp. is buying the Canadian steel maker Stelco Inc. for about $1.1 billion in a move expected to bolster its position as a supplier to the North American automotive industry.

The Pittsburgh-based company said slabs produced at Stelco's Lake Erie and Hamilton plants will supply finishing facilities for flat-rolled steel — used in the auto and appliance industries — and tubular steel used mostly in the energy sector.

After the acquisition, U.S. Steel will become the world's fifth-largest steel maker. It will have with a production capacity of about 33 million net tons of raw steel annually, up from its currently yearly capacity of 26.8 million tons.

Stelco emerged from bankruptcy protection last year and announced plans to cut 15 percent of its work force after settling a new four-year contract with the United Steelworkers union.

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LOS ANGELES — Taiwan-based Acer Inc. will acquire Gateway Inc. for $710 million in a deal designed to give the long-struggling U.S. computer maker the size it needs to compete against larger players, the companies announced Monday.

The deal will push the combined company past China's Lenovo Group Ltd. to become the world's third-largest vendor of personal computers, behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc.

With the acquisition, Acer will absorb a company that made a splash when it was founded in 1985 in an Iowa farmhouse.

Gateway's made-to-order philosophy for selling computers made it a formidable player early on, and the brand became known for the cow-spotted boxes used to ship its products.

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WASHINGTON — Federal regulators ordered inspections of the wing slats on all newer Boeing 737 jetliners based on findings about the fire that destroyed a China Airlines 737 in Japan last week.

The orders apply to the owners and operators of 783 U.S. airplanes but will likely be imposed by other countries on the entire worldwide fleet of 2,287 newer 737s, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Les Dorr said Monday.

Dorr said the move was prompted by the fire in Japan and one other incident.

The FAA's emergency airworthiness directive, issued Saturday, applies to all 737-600, -700, -800, -900 and -900ER series planes, the first of which entered service in January 1998 with Southwest Airlines, which flies only 737s. In the United States, the planes also are used by Alaska, American, Continental, Delta and other carriers.

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BEIJING — Faulty American designs and conflicting global standards for safety are at the root of the mass recalls of Chinese-made toys by Mattel Inc., a top quality official said Monday.

Defending the overall quality of Chinese workmanship, Li Changjiang, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said recent export problems stemmed from "different standards that China and the United States apply to different products."

His comments were the latest in China's effort to show it is striving to overcome safety woes and is a trustworthy manufacturer. But continuing discoveries of high levels of chemicals and toxins in Chinese goods — from toothpaste and clothes to fish and juice — are making that an uphill task.

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NEW YORK — Oil and gasoline futures rebounded from early declines Monday, closing higher after refinery problems and falling gasoline inventories weighed on the market.

The September gasoline contract led the way, reversing an early loss of more than a cent and gaining more than 5 cents on continued concerns about the impact of a mid-August fire at Chevron Corp.'s 330,000 barrel per day Pascagoula, Miss., refinery.

Trade media reports late last week said Chevron had canceled a 550,000-barrel Venezuelan crude order.