But markets took some heart from the warning signs, hoping that they would goad the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates more.

Worries about jobs and the economy flared in September, driving a key barometer of consumer sentiment to its lowest level in nearly two years, a private research group said.

The bad news was compounded by a report from the National Association of Realtors that sales of existing homes declined for a sixth straight month in August, pushing activity to the lowest point in five years. The Realtors showed a rise in median home prices, but a separate report done by S&P/Case-Shiller said home prices fell 3.9 percent in July in its 20-city index. Economists said that decline was probably a better reflection of where the market stands now.

The New York-based Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 99.8, an almost 6-point drop from the revised 105.6 in August. The reading was below the 104.5 that analysts had expected.

It marked its lowest level since a 98.3 reading in November 2005, when gas and oil prices soared after hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast.

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MIAMI (AP) — Tough times in the national housing market led to a company record loss of $513.9 million for Lennar Corp. in the third quarter, with drops in sales prices and home deliveries compounded by heavy charges to write down land values. Its shares fell almost 4 percent.

One of the nation's largest home builders said Tuesday it had cut its work force by 35 percent this year and that it expects to pare more employees soon.

It was the biggest quarterly loss in the 53-year history of Lennar. Miller said consumer confidence in the housing market is low.

Losses for the third quarter ended Aug. 31 amounted to $3.25 per share compared with a profit of $206.7 million, or $1.30 per share, in the 2006 period. The results included a charge of $3.33 per share related to valuation adjustments and writing off land option deposits, among other items.

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DETROIT (AP) — Industry watchers predict that the United Auto Workers' strike against General Motors Corp. will be a short one.

Both sides have something the other desires — the workers want job security, GM wants to make retiree health care a union burden — and that's the stuff that agreements are made of.

The two sides were back at the bargaining table Tuesday as workers walked the picket lines for a second day. Talks restarted Tuesday morning after bargainers ended a marathon, 36-hour session Monday evening, GM spokesman Dan Flores said. Analysts were encouraged that the talks have continued throughout the strike.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices dropped sharply Tuesday, ending below $80 a barrel, and other energy futures followed suit as investors locked in profits from the recent record-setting rally.

The third consecutive day of oil price declines after eight straight sessions in which futures hit new records is igniting a debate among analysts over whether the move is a correction in a bull market or the beginning of a long-term decline in crude prices.

Crude futures peaked near $84 a barrel on Thursday, the day the October contract expired. The November crude contract began its life as the front-month contract Friday more than $1.50 lower, and has declined in every session since.

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SEATTLE (AP) — Web retailer Amazon.com Inc. launched its much-anticipated digital music store Tuesday with nearly 2.3 million songs, none of them protected against copying.

The store, Amazon MP3, lets shoppers buy and download individual songs or entire albums. The tracks can be copied to multiple computers, burned onto CDs and played on most types of PCs and portable devices, including Apple Inc.'s iPod and Microsoft Corp.'s Zune.

Songs cost 89 cents to 99 cents each and albums sell for $5.99 to $9.99.

Major music labels Universal Music Group and EMI Music Publishing have signed on to sell their tracks on Amazon, as have thousands of independent labels. The company said several smaller labels are selling their music without copy protection for the first time on the Amazon store, including Rounder Records and Trojan Records.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Communications equipment failed Tuesday at a regional air-traffic control center, shutting down all airline traffic within 250 miles of Memphis and causing a ripple effect across the country that grounded dozens of passenger and cargo flights.

The problem started when a major telephone line to the Memphis center went out at 12:35 p.m. EST. The Federal Aviation Administration said air-traffic control operations were back to normal about three hours later.

Air-traffic control centers in adjacent regions handled flights that were already in the air when the problem was discovered.

High-altitude flights through the region — which includes parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee — were discontinued while the equipment was being fixed.

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BOSTON (AP) — Hackers stole millions of credit card numbers from discount retailer TJX Cos. by intercepting wireless transfers of customer information at two Miami-area Marshalls stores, according to an eight-month investigation by the Canadian government.

The probe led by Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart faulted TJX for failing to upgrade its data encryption system by the time the electronic eavesdropping began in July 2005. The break-in ultimately gave hackers undetected access to TJX's central databases for a year and a half, exposing at least 45 million credit and debit cards to potential fraud.