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New York • Real estate companies led U.S. stocks mostly lower in early trading Tuesday. Energy and consumer-goods stocks also fell as crude oil prices headed lower. Industrials companies notched the biggest gain.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 19,868 as of 8:14 a.m. Mountain Time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 2,267. The Nasdaq composite index rose 1 point, or 0.03 percent, to 5,533.

BAH HUMBUG: Ascena Retail Group plunged 11.3 percent after the company slashed its profit forecast, citing holiday season sales, which fell for most of its brands, including Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant and Dressbarn. The stock slid 68 cents to $5.33.

BIG DECLINER: Natural gas company Williams Cos. was down the most among stocks in the S&P 500 index, sliding $3.14, or 9.8 percent, to $28.79.

IN THE GENES: Illumina vaulted 15.7 percent after it launched a new genetic sequencing system called NovaSeq. The stock led the gainers in the S&P 500, adding $22.21 to $163.75.

BIG SALE: Struggling drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals jumped 7.5 percent after saying it will sell more than $2 billion in assets. The stock rose $1.15 to $16.50.

HEALTHIER OUTLOOK: Zimmer Biomet added 4.9 percent after the medical device maker projected better-than-expected fourth-quarter sales. The stock rose $5.20 to $112.20.

IN TRANSITION: Yahoo rose 1.8 percent after the internet pioneer said it plans to change its name to Altaba and announced that six of its 11 directors will resign from the board, including CEO Marissa Mayer and co-founder David Filo. The moves assume the sale of Yahoo's internet business to Verizon will go through and reflect how the rest of Yahoo will become a holding company for investments in Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo shares gained 73 cents to $42.07.

MARKETS OVERSEAS: In Europe, Germany's DAX was up 0.1 percent, while the CAC40 of France was 0.1 percent lower. Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.4 percent, pushing further into record territory as it benefits from a drop in the pound. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.8 percent, while the Kospi in South Korea slipped 0.2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.8 percent.

ENERGY: U.S. benchmark crude oil was down 6 cents at $51.90 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price oil sold internationally, was down 38 cents at $54.56 a barrel in London.

BONDS: Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.37 percent.

CURRENCIES: The pound fell to $1.2159 from $1.2163 amid signs the British government may opt for a full break away from the European Union's single market. The dollar fell to 115.61 yen from 116.06 in late trading Monday. The euro rose to $1.0594 from $1.0577.