NEW YORK, July 24 (UPI) -- Major U.S. stock indexes fell sharply Thursday with worries over the housing market put into focus with a drop in existing home sales.

Existing home sales fell by 2.6 percent in the month of June, the National Association of Realtors said. The fall reflects a sizable portion of economic activity, since home sales are often followed with purchases of furnishings, appliances and gardening equipment.

By close of trading Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 283.10 points to 11,349.28, off 2.43 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was off 45.77 points, or 1.97 percent, to 2,280.11. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 29.65 points, or 2.31 percent, to 1,252.54.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 605 stocks advanced and 2,562 declined on a volume of 1.644 billion shares traded.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 27/32 to yield 4.012 percent.

The euro traded at $1.5679 Thursday, compared to $1.569 at close Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was at 107.18 from 107.86 Wednesday.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Index closed 2.18 percent higher at 13,603.31, up 290.38 points.

The FTSE 100 index in London fell 87.60 points to 5,362.30, down 1.61 percent.

Deferred pay plan rebuked in California

SACRAMENTO, July 24 (UPI) -- A state order under consideration in California to defer wage payment to state workers was met with a rebuke from the state's controller, a spokesman said.

A spokesman for State Controller John Chiang said Chiang would not act on an order to defer payments to state workers, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

The order, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was expected to sign, says payments above the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour would be held back until a new state budget is in place.

All pay withheld would be paid back in the next check after a budget was passed, the Times reported.

Officials said California needs a budget in place in order to borrow billions of dollars required to keep the state going.

Some reacted angrily to the proposal.

"The governor is turning a budget crisis into a catastrophe," said Yvonne Walker, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1000.

"We are in the middle of a housing crisis, and people are losing their mortgages," she said. "Are they going to issue a notice to mortgage companies that employees will just catch up later?"

Ford records worst quarter in its history

DEARBORN, Mich., July 24 (UPI) -- Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) posted its worst quarter in company history with losses of $8.7 billion, the result of a market turn toward fuel-efficient cars, analysts said.

With the average price of gasoline above $4 a gallon in the United States, consumers have turned away from heavier pickup trucks and SUVs, which traditionally provide higher profit margins than smaller vehicles.

Ford revenues in the second quarter dropped to $38.6 billion, down from $44.2 billion in the second quarter of 2007, when Ford posted a $750 million profit, the Detroit Free Press reported.

With some analysts predicting the slump in auto sales continuing through 2009, many are focused on Ford's cash reserves to see if the auto giant can survive without having to declare bankruptcy.

Ford currently has $26.6 billion on hand, the Free Press reported. Its cash reserves declined by $2.1 billion during the quarter.

In the first quarter, Ford reported a profit of $100 million.

Plant allegedly underpaid garment workers

ALBANY, N.Y., July 24 (UPI) -- Garment workers at Jin Shun Inc. on Long Island were cheated out of millions in wages and coached to lie about it, a New York labor official said.

The factory, which supplies clothes for Macy's, Gap, Banana Republic, Victoria's Secret and others, "took extraordinary steps to conceal its violations," the New York Labor Department said in a statement.

The department estimated Jin Shun has underpaid more than 100 workers by nearly $3 million since 2005.

Prior to 2005, the factory, under the name of Venture 47, underpaid workers by nearly $2.5 million, the statement said.

The department tagged more than 10,000 items with labels identifying them as made by underpaid workers. Manufacturer Urban Apparel paid $60,000 in underpayments to have the tags removed, the statement said.

"This factory paid sweatshop wages, kept fake records, and coached employees to lie," Department Commissioner M. Patricia Smith said.

Factory workers were handed a "cheat sheet" of answers to give to probing investigators. They were also given two time cards, one that started on Monday and another that started Wednesday, to conceal overtime hours, the statement said.