NEW YORK — Consumers sent up a warning signal in March that rising gas prices, falling home values and a volatile stock market could hurt spending in the coming months, a widely watched index showed on Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 107.2, down from the revised 111.2 in February. Analysts had expected a reading of 109. The March index was the lowest since November 2006 when the reading was 105.3.

Economists closely monitor consumer confidence because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity. Confidence had been climbing, helped by consumers' faith in the job market.

The Present Situation Index, which measures how shoppers feel now about economic conditions, increased slightly to 137.6 from 137.1 in February.

SINGLE-FAMILY HOME PRICES FALL

NEW YORK — Prices of single-family homes across the nation depreciated in January compared to a year ago, the worst results in more than 13 years, a housing index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's showed.

The data underscored disappointing sales data released by the government on Monday.

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index showed a drop of 0.7 percent from a year ago in the price of a single-family home based on existing homes tracked over time in 10 metropolitan markets. In January 1994 the index dropped by 0.9 percent compared with January 1993, S&P said.

For its 20-city composite index, prices fell 0.2 percent.

HOMEBUILDER FACES FRAUD INVESTIGATION

ATLANTA — Beazer Homes USA Inc., which has recently suffered hefty losses amid a downturn in the housing market, now faces a federal investigation of mortgage fraud and other allegations involving the homebuilder.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Charlotte, N.C., along with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, launched an investigation of Beazer Homes last week, FBI agent Ken Lucas said Tuesday.

Lucas, a spokesman for the FBI's Charlotte field office, said the inquiry involves "fraud in general" and more specifically is related to corporate, mortgage and investment issues.

Asked whether investigators would seek to question corporate officers and subpoena company records, Lucas said he wasn't sure.

FALLING PROFITS PLAGUE HOMEBUILDERS

MIAMI — One by one, some of the nation's largest homebuilders have seen quarterly earnings get crushed by the slump in the housing market.

Lennar Corp. became the latest victim Tuesday, with a 73 percent plunge in first-quarter earnings and predictions that it is going to fall short of 2007 earnings goals. Since the start of February, homebuilders KB Homes, Hovanian Enterprises Inc. and Toll Brothers Inc. all reported falling profits.

Stuart Miller, Lennar's president and chief executive, said a lack of demand for the winter-spring buying season, new problems with subprime lenders and higher-than-desired land costs hurt profits.

The company reported drops in new home orders and building starts, and that Florida contained some of the slowest new home markets. Lennar shares fell 4 cents, or less than one percent, to close at $44.50 on the New York Stock Exchange, after decreasing almost 3 percent earlier in the day.

DELTA EXPECTS TO EMERGE FROM BANKRUPTCY

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines Inc. expects to emerge from bankruptcy protection April 30 with an eye on improving customer service and selling more assets to build shareholder value, it said Tuesday, raising the possibility it could shed feeder carrier Comair.

While the nation's third-biggest airline did not say in documents prepared for an investor conference what assets it plans to sell, Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian suggested that Delta subsidiary Comair Inc. could be a target.

Erlanger, Ky.-based Comair is a regional carrier that provides connecting service for Delta.

The investor documents, which Delta filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggested Delta may have moved up the date of its planned emergence from Chapter 11. It had said in a statement March 20 it expected to emerge from bankruptcy in early May.

BARGAINING CONVENTION KICKS OFF FOR UAW

DETROIT — United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger kicked off his union's bargaining convention Tuesday with a warning for companies: Just because we've cooperated in the past, don't take that as a sign of weakness.

In a speech at the start of the two-day national bargaining convention in downtown Detroit, Gettelfinger said the union will fight companies at the bargaining table, in politics and "if need be on the picket line."

Addressing 1,500 members from multiple industries who will help set the union's overall bargaining priorities, a defiant Gettelfinger said the union does not want to strike, but will if necessary.

The convention delegates, from more than 800 UAW locals in the U.S. and Canada, weren't expected to get into the nitty-gritty of what will be discussed with individual companies.

$100M FINE FOR SENDING NIGHT-VISION EQUIPMENT OVERSEAS

ROANOKE, Va. — ITT Corp. has agreed to pay a $100 million penalty for illegally sending classified night-vision technology used in military operations to China and other countries, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee announced Tuesday.

ITT, the leading manufacturer of night-vision equipment for U.S. armed forces, will plead guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to two felony charges, Brownlee said at a news conference. One count is export of defense articles without a license and the other is omission of statements of material facts in arms exports reports.

ITT defense-related technical data was given to China, Singapore and the United Kingdom in order to cut costs, government investigators said.

COURT RULING A BLOW TO WHISTLE-BLOWER

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court left an 81-year-old retired engineer without a penny to show for his role in exposing fraud at a former nuclear weapons plant in a ruling that makes it harder for whistle-blowers to claim cash rewards.

James Stone stood to collect up to $1 million from a lawsuit he filed in 1989 against Rockwell International, now part of aerospace giant Boeing Co., over problems with environmental cleanup at the now-closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant northwest of Denver.

A court eventually ordered Rockwell to pay the government nearly $4.2 million for false claims the company submitted. Stone could have received up to a quarter of Rockwell's payment, under the False Claims Act.

But Justice Antonin Scalia, writing in the 6-2 ruling Tuesday, said Stone was not entitled to recover any money because he lacked "direct and independent knowledge of the information upon which his allegations were based."

MERCK GETS VICTORY IN COURT

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — A state jury Tuesday sided with Vioxx maker Merck & Co. over claims that its once-blockbuster painkiller caused the 2003 deadly heart attack of an obese 52-year-old Illinois woman, concluding her own poor health likely led to her demise.

The Madison County jurors deliberated about six hours over two days before rejecting the request from Patty Schwaller's widower to hit Merck mightily in the pocketbook for allegedly contributing to his wife's death and not sufficiently warning that the drug carried potentially dangerous cardiovascular side-effects.