More housing slump fallout ...

Incidentally, both D.R. Horton (the second-largest U.S. home builder, per Bloomberg) and Home Depot (the world's largest home improvement retailer) are on the tape today warning about ugly market conditions and the impact on orders and profits.

D.R. Horton said net orders plunged 40 year-over-year in the fiscal third quarter ended June 30. The cancellation rate came in at 38% (up from 32% in the fiscal second quarter and around 29% a year earlier). Chairman Donald Horton didn't have much positive to say, either, giving the following description of the current environment:

"Market conditions for new home sales declined in our June quarter as inventory levels of both new and existing homes remained high, and we expect the housing environment to remain challenging. We adjusted our sales prices as selling conditions deteriorated, and we continue to react quickly to market dynamics."

Meanwhile, Home Depot said "we expect the housing market to remain challenging for the rest of 2007 and into 2008."

Needless to say, these are even more signs of the "contained-ness" of the housing slowdown.