Wall Street slides on Europe fears and poor US housing figures
US pending home sales decline in April, after expectations of an
unchanged figure  Wall Street has followed European markets
lower on growing fears about Spain's financial position, and
some poor US housing figures have done nothing to soothe
investors' nerves.  Pending home sales - contracts to buy
previously owned houses - fell by 5.5% in April, compared to
expectations of an unchanged reading. The report goes against
recent optimism about a recovery in the US housing market.  So
the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down around 140 points, or
just over 1%, following the news. Elsewhere the FTSE 100 is down
86 points or 1.6%, Germany is 1.3% lower while France has fallen
1.75%. Italy and Spain have lost more than 1.5% each.  Rising
Spanish and Italian bond yields continue to put pressure on the
weaker members of the eurozone, while early enthusiasm for new
EU proposals to help bail out struggling banks appears to have
waned.  Meanwhile, back in t