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| Case-Shiller index bolsters housing hopes
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| The nation's housing market got its third dose of good news within a week with word that a closely tracked measure of housing prices showed its first monthly increase since summer 2006. Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index, which excludes many high-end properties and homes bought with riskier mortgages or cash, showed that home prices in May rose from April in 13 of the 20 cities tracked.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Tampa Bay home values were flat from April to May, index shows
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Tampa Bay area home prices were flat from April to May, easing off months of decline, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home price index.
Editor's Comment: This is a good read
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| @ St. Petersburg Times | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Report: Bank of America to close 10 percent of branches in U.S.
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| With more than 650 branches and deposits of nearly $70 billion, Bank of America was Florida's second largest bank in 2008, according to the FDIC. In Central Florida, the bank ranked third (110 branches and deposits of $7.8 billion.) More recent data is scheduled to be released this fall.
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Florida’s economy projected to have a slower recovery
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| The Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research projects unemployment will not improve until the fourth quarter of 2010. Previously, the state’s unemployment rate was expected to peak at 10.2 percent in the second quarter of 2010 before declining. Florida reached a 10.2 percent jobless rate in May, and increased to 10.3 percent in June. According to the new forecast, Florida’s unemployment will hit 11 percent in the second quarter of 2010 before declining in the fourth quarter of 2010.
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0330 EDST
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| East Central Illinois area unemployment rates increased in June
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| Champaign County's rate climbed to 7.7 percent from 6.7 percent in May. Meanwhile, Vermilion County's rate rose to 10.9 percent from 10.1 percent in May. Statewide, the unemployment rate was 10.5 percent,
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| @ Champaign Urbana News Gazette | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Location still key as home prices slide in Rockford, Il area.
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| The local housing market showed few signs of rebounding in the first half of 2009, with sales of single-family homes and condominiums falling nearly 20 percent and median sale prices falling in all but two of the Rock River Valley’s largest municipalities.
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| @ Rockford Register Star | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0400 EDST
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| The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™ Retreats Again
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| The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™, which had retreated in June, declined further in July. The Index now stands at 46.6 (1985=100), down from 49.3 in June. The Present Situation Index decreased to 23.4 from 25.0 last month. The Expectations Index declined to 62.0 from 65.5 in June.
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| @ The Conference Board | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Subprime mortgage companies warn on U.S. foreclosures
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| The costs of borrowing to finance delinquent payments to bond investors far outweigh expected revenue from incentives paid by the government, Rose said. The government will pay servicers $1,000 for every loan modified, and another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower stays current.
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| @ Reuters | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0419 EDST
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| The Customer Is Right
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| Mr. Obama should listen to Chinese warnings on the dollar. The unambiguous message from these investors who hold more than $800 billion in U.S. Treasury debt: Washington needs to take better care of their investment. Yesterday, China Vice Premier Wang Qishan urged the U.S. to get a handle on its soaring debt to protect the value of the dollar. “As a major reserve currency-issuing country in the world, the U.S. should balance and properly handle the dollar’s supply,” Mr. Wang said through an interpreter. Well put.
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| @ Wall Street Journal | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Curbing a yen for Japanese stocks
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| Despite more interest in Japanese equities, experts are mixed over whether they're a smart investment. Investors have been putting more money into Japanese equity funds than they've been taking out for four straight weeks, according to fund flow tracker EPFR. The streak is the longest since the third quarter of 2008.
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| @ Fortune Magazine | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0652 EDST
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| Why Japan Isn't Rising. It's mellowing as its population ages.
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| To this gaijin, Japan looks prosperous, clean, highly functioning. At Takashimaya, the high-end department store atop the central train station in Nagoya, shoppers line up in orderly queues before the 10 a.m. opening. But Japan seems to be in the midst of an existential crisis—in the first quarter it shrank at an abysmal 15.2 percent annual rate. In 10 days traveling through the country, I couldn't find anyone who thought the malaise would end soon.
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| @ Slate | Posted: 07/29/09 at 0655 EDST
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