Hopes for a housing recovery were dashed this morning after a report from First American CoreLogic said that nearly 10.7 million U.S. households owed more on their mortgages than the properties were worth in the third quarter.

The report says that 23% of people with mortgages, nearly one in every four, were "underwater" on their mortgages -- a phenomenon that has been occurring as home prices continue to fall. This morning, the Case-Shiller/S&P 20-city index on home prices in September said prices were down 9.4% from the same month last year.

An additional 2.3 million homeowners are within 5% of negative territory, the report said.

Updated at 3:34 p.m. ET

Stocks were slowly trimming their losses for the day despite a new report showing an economic recovery is less robust than originally thought.

At 3:34 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) was down 18 points to 10,433. The blue chips had been down as many as 91 points less than an hour after the open.

The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) was off 8 points to 2,168, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) slipped 1 point to 1,105.

The losses were trimmed after the Federal Reserve released minutes of its meeting on Nov. 3-4. The minutes show the Fed expects a slow economic recovery with relatively high unemployment. The Fed boosted its growth forecast for 2009 to a range of negative 0.4% to negative 0.1%. Its last forecast  saw the economy falling 1.5% to 1%.

With Thanksgiving just days away, turkeys are again the prime product in consumers' grocery carts -- and they're cheaper this year.

Wholesale turkey prices are 18% to 20% lower as the industry deals with a product surplus, according to Farha Aslam, food analyst with Stephens, and that is weighing on poultry producers like Cargill, Butterball, Hormel (HRL) and Sara Lee (SLE).

Overall turkey production is down about 9% from last year because of the recession, according to the National Turkey Federation. But "the reduction in production will not affect the turkey supply for this holiday season," said Sherrie Rosenblatt, spokeswoman for the National Turkey Federation.  

U.S. turkey production is forecast to rebound 2% next year.

By Melinda Peer, TheStreet.com

Stock futures pointed toward a slightly higher open on Tuesday as Wall Street waited for new data on economic growth and consumer confidence.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 2.1 points to 1,106 and were 1.06 points above fair value. Futures for the Nasdaq rose 0.25 point to 1,793 and were 1.44 points below fair value.

Yesterday, robust existing-home sales pushed helped stocks snap a three-day losing streak. The market will get a clearer read on the strength of the U.S. economy when gross domestic product data for the third quarter are released ahead of trading. Economists expect a 2.9% annualized gain, compared with growth of 3.5%, as initially reported.

U.S. consumer confidence for November, due out at 10 a.m. EST, is forecast at 47.5, compared with October’s level of 47.7.

Bing: More on Stock Futures

Updated: Noon ET, Nov. 24.

So, if Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) shares slipped after its fiscal-fourth-quarter earnings report, is that a bad thing?

Probably not in the long run. The company said its business is starting to look better in the United States and is terrific in China.

• Read more about Hewlett-Packard's history on Bing

The short-run is another matter. Shares were down 1.8% to $50.07 today because of concern about its core printer and computer businesses.

General Electric (GE) is leaning toward allowing an initial public offering of Vivendi's (VIVDY) 20% holding in NBC Universal as talks to purchase the stake stall, Bloomberg News reported today.

The two sides are about $500 million apart on a valuation for Vivendi’s stake in the entertainment unit, and little progress has been made in recent days, a person close to the talks told Bloomberg.

GE, which owns the remaining 80% of NBC Universal, may still agree to buy out Vivendi if talks advance, the person said.

An IPO would complicate plans to move forward with the creation of a joint venture combining NBC Universal’s film, cable-television and theme-park properties with networks owned by Comcast (CMCSA), the largest U.S. cable operator.