Fewer Americans signed contracts in July to buy previously owned homes, a sign that rising mortgage rates are starting to slow momentum in the housing market. The index of pending home sales dropped 1.3 percent, the most this year, after a 0.4 percent decrease in June, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. Economists forecast no change in the gauge from the month before, according to a median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Mortgage rates at a two-year high and a limited number of existing homes are pushing some prospective buyers out of the market, threatening to slow the pace ... (full story)