The National Association of Realtors (NAR) graced the Street this morning with another round of downbeat data from the housing market. The NAR reported that sales of previously owned U.S. homes declined by nearly 1% from February to March, with the index dropping from a downwardly revised 83.8 to its current perch at 83.0. March's reading marks a new low for the index. Ahead of the report, economists expected that the index would slip to 83.8. On a year-over-year basis, the index of existing home sales is down more than 20%.

Of the regions tracked by the NAR, only the Northeast posted an increase in the home sales index (up 12.5%). Sales dropped by more than 10% in the Midwest, by 1.4% in the West, and by 0.1% in the South.

At last check, stocks are attempting to rebound from their lows of the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by about 40 points at 12,980, up from its intraday low of 12,972. The S&P 500 Index is 4 points lower at 1,414, just 1 point up from its nadir of the session.

In other economic news hitting the Street this morning, first-quarter productivity rose at a faster-than-expected pace.