Stocks opened higher Wednesday, just one day after suffering steep losses tied to ongoing investor concerns about the economy, but quickly turned south ahead of President Obama’s $75 billion mortgage relief plan release.

At 10:27 am ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) is down 5.31, or 1.24%, to 423.59. The Dow and S&P 500 are faring slightly better, but are still in the red, down 0.48% and 0.60%, respectively.

President Obama’s signing of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill into law on Wednesday did little to bolster market sentiment, but there is hope that his $75 billion mortgage relief plan, to be unveiled this afternoon, will buoy the stock market to higher waters. A main cause of the recession has been steep declines in housing prices and sales coupled with rising foreclosures; a solid housing plan out of the Obama administration may be seen as welcoming news to investors.

Before the bell, the Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes and apartments fell to a record low annual rate of 466,000 in January — a 16.8% drop compared with analyst predictions of a mere 5% . . .

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