LONDON (ShareCast) - A slide in pending home sales in March and the continued strength of oil prices had US shares on the retreat this morning, though prices recovered a little on the latest inventory data which showed an increase of 5.7m barrels in US crude stocks.

The index of pending home resales dipped 1% to 83 in March, after sliding a revised 2.8% in February. The data sent housebuilders DR Horton and Pulte Homes plus mortgage lender Countrywide Financial sharply lower.

The news outweighed unexpectedly good news on the productivity front. Productivity rose at a 2.2% annual rate in the first quarter of 2008 after rising 1.8% in the fourth quarter, as employers cut back on staff while still attempting to maintain the same output levels.

The Dow Jones 30 is down 57 at 12,963 and the S&P 500 is 6 points lower at 1,411. The NASDAQ Composite is barely changed at 2,475.

Mobile phone company Sprint Nextel is going well after announcing plans to team up with Internet company Clearwire to run a proposed high-speed wireless network.

The joint-venture, into which Clearwire will be subsumed, has the backing of Intel and Google plus cable networks Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks. Between them the companies have agreed to invest $3.2bn in the new venture through the purchase of Clearwire’s common stock at a target price of $20, though this target price is subject to adjustment depending on the trading performance of the newly issued shares once they begin trading.

The joint-venture announcement sparked selling in rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless, however, with analysts saying that the Sprint-Clearwire team-up gives the joint-venture a head start on its competitors in the race to set up a nationwide WiMAX network.

Insurance broker Marsh & McLennan edges higher despite reporting a first quarter loss of 40 cents a share. The company said it hopes to sell parts of its Kroll subsidiary after a $425m write-down at the unit plunged the company into loss.

Theme park operator and film studio Walt Disney is on the up after Tuesday’s results which saw fiscal second quarter earnings per share rise 35% to $0.58 compared to $0.43 in the prior-year.

Computer services provider Cognizant was the morning’s major casualty after sales and profit forecasts fell short of analysts' projections. Second-quarter earnings are expected to be around 34 or 35 cents, the company said today. Analysts had been expecting earnings per share of 36 cents. Revenue was forecast to be at least $680m, versus market expectations of around $710m.

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