All Eyes on 10 a.m. (EST)

July Housing Stats

[Update. 10:30 am (CST): the official number is down 27.2%. Meanwhile, the market is up just a bit from where it opened, down 100. The takeaway? Nobody's shocked.]

The big number today is the imminent release of July housing sales (about a minute away).

Judging by the stock market's first 30 minutes today -- in fact, the week-long slide -- no one's anticipating that the number's going to be good.

You'll know if the number is better or worse than expected by the market's immediate reaction.