Housing stocks were mostly lower Friday as the federal government sent mixed signals on a plan that would provide cheaper mortgages to many borrowers.

Shares of homebuilders fell Thursday after Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. said it plans sell 14 million shares to raise cash.

Stocks closed lower Friday after a profit warning from J.C. Penney, which renewed fears about slower consumer spending. Financials and techs caved in after earlier attempts to rally.

Stocks advanced Friday, boosted by benign inflation data and an upgrade on Lehman Brothers.

Home builder KB Home posted a quarterly loss on Friday with impairment and abandonment charges as the U.S. housing market continued its steep decline, and said it did not expect conditions to improve in the near term.

Stocks rose at the opening bell as the market weighed benign inflation data with a weak outlook from J.C. Penney.

At annual meetings across the country shareholders are making the yearly pilgrimage to have their voices heard,  and votes counted,  at the companies they own.  In some cases, those shareholders have a hand in changing the way the firm does business.

Toll Brothers reported a first-quarter loss Wednesday: the homebuilder announced a huge jump in write-downs on properties it could no longer sell profitably; and its sales fell 23 percent. So why did the company’s stock climb as much as 2.21 percent Wednesday? Thank the  Office of Federal Housing Enterprises Oversight and Lehman Brothers.

After all the doom and gloom in recent months, the beleagured housing market got a bit of good news on Wednesday.

KB Home posted a quarterly loss of nearly $773 million Tuesday with abandonment and impairment charges as the U.S. housing market continued to decline, and said it expects another tough year for the industry in 2008.

Stocks skidded back into correction territory as investors worried that the tumbling economy may not only cripple mortgage lenders like Countrywide Financial but create problems for other companies like AT&T.

The nation's housing doldrums will drag on at least through 2009, dampening U.S. economic growth and job creation, but the slowdown won't push the economy into a recession, according to a new economic report.