A gauge of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell in April from nearly a two-year high in the previous month.
The Federal Reserve upgraded its outlook on the U.S. economy Tuesday, noting recent strong improvements in the job market while downplaying higher gasoline prices that are temporarily stoking inflation.
The Federal Reserve upgraded its outlook on the U.S. economy Tuesday, noting recent strong improvements in the job market while downplaying higher gasoline prices that are temporarily stoking inflation.
The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January to the highest level in nearly two years, supporting the view that the housing market is gradually coming back.
The housing market is flashing signs of health ahead of the spring-buying season.
Fewer Americans bought new homes in December. The decline made 2011 the worst year for new-home sales on records dating back nearly half a century.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell last month to its lowest level in more than 2½ years. More people out of work either found jobs or gave up looking and were no longer counted as unemployed.
The Federal Reserve sketched a bleaker outlook Wednesday for the economy, which it thinks will grow much more slowly and face higher unemployment than it had estimated in June.
Fears that the economy is stalling sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 280 points Wednesday, erasing more than a quarter of the stock market's gains for the year. Treasury bond yields fell to their lowest level since December as traders put a higher value on safer investments.
