News
Market Watch | Foreclosures level off in early 2012: CoreLogic
The inventory of homes in foreclosure has leveled off in the first four months of the year, according to a report from data firm CoreLogic Inc. released on Wednesday. The number of homes in the foreclosure inventory stood at 1.4 million at the end of April, compared to 1.5 million in April 2011 and 1.4 million in March.
WSJ | Housing Market Crawls Back
Housing prices across the U.S. fell in March, but not as much as in earlier months, according to a report Tuesday that offered fresh evidence of a real-estate market on the mend.
CNN Money | Home prices lowest since 2002
Average home prices were down 2.6% from 12 months earlier, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major markets. Home prices have not been this low since mid-2002.
WSJ | Spain's Economy Shows Fresh Strain
Spain's economy showed fresh strains as retail sales fell at a record pace in April, suggesting the country's recession is deepening as the government's austerity program curbs consumption.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Economic Confidence Falls to 2 1/2 Year Low
Economic confidence in the euro area declined more than economists forecast in May to the lowest in 2 1/2 years after inconclusive Greek elections raised the specter of a euro breakup and Spain struggled to shore up its banks.
FOX News | Obama to sign renewal of Export-Import Bank
President Barack Obama is set to sign the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, the government's vehicle for promoting U.S. export sales.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Project Syndicate | France’s Broken Dream
The crisis in the eurozone is the result of France’s persistent pursuit of the “European project,” the goal of political unification that began after World War II when two leading French politicians, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman, proposed the creation of a United States of Europe.
Bloomberg | Low, Stable Housing Prices: What’s Not to Like?
The Case-Shiller Housing Price figures for March were released Tuesday, and they reveal a second month of modest price increases.
Politico | The anti-free-enterprise president
President Barack Obama declared Tuesday, “This is what this campaign is going to be about.” He was not talking about jobs. He was not talking about the economy—not even about the budget deficit. He was referring to divisive, disingenuous character attacks against presumed GOP nominee Mitt Romney and a rhetorical assault on job creators.
WSJ | The Bain Ads Are About Spending
Who says Wall Streeters aren't filled with a desire to please? Two big-name Democratic financiers, Roger Altman and Steven Rattner, may not be ready to defend the president's deceitful Bain ads. But they promptly took to the airwaves to defend the president's defense of the ads, after President Obama himself issued a few syllables they could cling to, saying the ads merely questioned whether profit maximization is an appropriate governing principle.
