Home Prices

In January, prices were down 0.4%, compared with December and have fallen 0.7% from a year earlier.

"The rebound in housing prices seen last fall is fading," said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Fewer cities experienced month-to-month gains in January."

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Buoyed by the government's program of tax credits for first-time buyers, home prices had come 5.4% off their low set last April. Since the impact of the credit crunch started to fade last fall, prices have flopped again, down about 1% since September.

"People rushed to beat the tax credit deadline," said Richard DeKaser, a housing market analyst.

That exhausted the supply of bargain hunters. Even after the credit was extended, there were fewer potential buyers because so many had moved up their purchases.

Blitzer pointed to other housing data that also suggests weakness in the market.

"Housing starts continue at extremely low levels, recent reports of home sales suggest the market remains difficult, and concerns remain about further foreclosures and a large shadow inventory of unsold homes," he said. "We can't say we're out of the woods yet."

DeKaser said he believes that banks will start to ease their restrictions on mortgage lending over the next several months, which should boost markets. Underwriting standards are so tight right now that many people who would be buying homes cannot because they can't obtain a mortgage.

The tax credit helped offset that market weakness but when it expires at this month - contracts have to be signed by the end of April and sales closed before July 1 - the lenders will have to step up.

"If lenders don't return to the market, we could experience another letdown in the housing market," he said.

Only two cities recorded home price gains in January: Los Angeles prices rose 0.9% and San Diego gained 0.4%.

Portland, Ore., reported the largest decrease, 1.8%. Other large losses were sustained by Chicago and Seattle, both down 1.7%, and Atlanta, off 1.5%.  

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Berkshire Hathaway ranks number one in reputation

Tech giant Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), 3M Company (MMM, Fortune 500), and consumer-products maker SC Johnson rounded out the top five spots. And Ford Motor Company (F, Fortune 500) saw one of the biggest annual jumps in its reputation rating, despite a dismal year for automakers. Ford's rise was the second-largest in the study's 11-year history.

"This year, we see overall corporate governance, performance and leadership driving positive reputation perceptions," said Robert Fronk, senior vice president of Reputation Management at Harris Interactive.

Overall, the survey found that while Americans' opinion about corporations has improved in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis, the vast majority of people are still very skeptical about big business.

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According to the survey, the percentage of Americans who labeled corporate reputations as "not good" or "terrible" stood at 81% in 2009, down from 88% in 2008 when the U.S. was knee deep in the crisis.

Bailed out banks and federal agencies, including Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), Citigroup, (C, Fortune 500) AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), and Fannie Mae, comprised 7 out of the 10 least reputable companies. Freddie Mac was rock bottom, with the lowest score recorded since 2005 when Enron held that spot.

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Only 18% of those surveyed said corporations had a "good" reputation. Still, this was up from 12% in 2008 and marked the first positive move in four years.

The retail and automotive industries saw the biggest improvements in their reputation ratings. The technology sector remained the highest rated industry, while financial institutions and tobacco companies held on to the lowest ranks.

The annual Reputation Quotient surveyed more than 29,000 Americans between December 29, 2009 and February 15, 2010. 

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Retail Sales

February's increase showed that Americans were still making it to the stores despite the snow and cold weather last month and customers were splurging on electronics for the Super Bowl, said Chris Donnelly, a senior executive at consulting firm Accenture.

February retail sales jumped 3.9% compared to the same month in 2009.

"This is consistent with the trend we've been seeing," said Donnelly. "We've seen a gradual thaw in the consumer pocketbook, and there is pent up demand -- we are certainly in a more optimistic place in February 2010 than in February 2009."

Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, and related reports such as retail sales are used to gauge whether a recovery is underway.

The monthly rise in sales was led by a jump in electronics and appliance store sales, which rose 3.7% last month. Purchases of TVs and other electronics leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, which took place early in the month, was likely a large part of this increase, said Donnelly.

The reading was weighed down by auto sales, which fell 2% after dropping 1.5% in the previous month.

Sales excluding autos and auto parts rose 0.8% last month, also beating expectations. A consensus of economists had projected ex-auto sales to edge up 0.1% in February.

Earlier in the month, many of the nation's retail chains reported much stronger than expected February sales.

Sales tracker Thomson Reuters, which looks at monthly same-store sales for 30 chains including Costco and Target, said February sales rose 4% in February, beating analyst expectations.

Donnelly said retail sales are likely to pick up more in the next few months as the season changes and consumers shop for spring and summer clothing.

"In January, February and March as a three-month stretch, there's not a lot of excitement," he said. "But at the end of March and in April and May, you will see a lot more people spending on apparel as the spring comes out, and a pick up in apparel will be a very encouraging sign."

In a separate report last week, the Labor Department said fewer jobs were lost in February than expected, boosting optimism about a recovering labor market. 

Sweet incentives lift auto sales in MarchRetail Sales

Economic tide has turned - White House

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told ABC's "This Week" that the recovery so far has led to conditions for compounding growth. In particular, Greenspan cited an increasing demand for inventory that spurs production as a signal of a possible significant build-up in growth.

"I suspect it's month by month," Greenspan said of continued economic growth, adding that "a statistical aberration is possible."

He said he doubted another drop in growth to create what economists call "double-dip recession" after the downturn of 2008-2009, saying the odds were "very much against that now."

On NBC's "Meet the Press," the chair of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, Cristina Romer, said the recovery would have to be systemic rather than consumer-driven because, in the wake of the recession, "we're not going to be see people maxing out their credit cards again."

Romer predicted economic growth for the year of 3 percent, which she said would be enough to keep creating jobs but not enough to significantly reduce the unemployment rate.

All three spoke two days after the government announced 162,000 news jobs created in March but the unemployment rate remaining at 9.7 percent.

Summers refused to be pinned down on when the unemployment rate might decline, noting that the increase in jobs does not automatically reduce overall unemployment.

As jobs are created, Summers told the ABC program, more people re-enter the labor force to look for work, so unemployment figures stay stagnant or can even go up.

On "State of the Union," Summers cited steps the Obama administration is taking to reduce the unemployment rate, including continued implementation of the $800 billion economic stimulus package from February 2009, new tax credits intended to encourage businesses to increase hiring, incentives for small businesses to expand and initiatives to create a "new energy economy" that focuses on energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.

Republicans complain that the administration's policies were creating government jobs for political expediency, rather than stimulating private sector economic growth.

"At this time of high unemployment, when we need to focus on jobs, we should not be expanding government spending, government commitments, and government promises that crowd out the small businessman and businesswoman," said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, in the GOP weekly radio address. 

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Can't afford health care? Wait 'til June

Many other longer term measures will be phased in over the next few years.

Underinsured consumers are those who incur high out-of-pocket costs - excluding premiums - relative to their income, despite having coverage all year. By one estimate, about 25 million Americans can't afford to cover the gap between what their insurance covers and what their medical bills demand.

And more than 46 million Americans currently don't have any health insurance.

As the number of underinsured and uninsured Americans continues to rise, experts say the legislation's short-term fixes could provide immediate benefits.

Here's what to expect in 2010 and 2011.

Federal "high risk" pool coverage for adults, kids : Among the first measures to be instituted, the government will create a temporary Federal "high risk" pool to provide affordable coverage for uninsured adults and kids.

The pool is expected to be established by late June.

Several states already have high risk insurance pools. High risk pools offer insurance at lower rates than the premiums offered to people with pre-existing conditions in the individual market.

If an individual with a pre-existing condition is denied coverage by an insurer, he or she can apply to this new pool, said Deborah Chollet, health economist and senior fellow with Washington-based Mathematica Policy Research. "The government will charge a standard premium rate [market rate] which won't be any higher than the premium that would be charged to you if you were healthy," she said.

However, individuals already in a state-funded high risk pool can't immediately switch over to the federal pool, said Chollet. These individuals can drop out of their state high risk pool, go uninsured for six months and then apply for the federal pool, according to the legislation, "but that's a high risk proposition," she said.

The federal high risk pool will exist until 2014 after which time individuals will have to buy into federally created health insurance exchanges or get their own insurance.

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Coverage for kids: Two of the most significant changes impacting young and adult children will take place by September.

First, insurers will no longer be able to deny coverage to a child because he or she has a pre-existing condition. Also, insurers will no longer be able to insure a child but exclude treatment for a pre-existing condition.

Experts say the legislation doesn't seem to place restrictions yet on the rates that insurers can charge this group of consumers.

"So insurers can conceivably charge higher premiums for a policy that covers children with pre-existing conditions," said Chollet.

Second, with regard to adult children, the legislation mandates that insurers will now have to provide dependent coverage up to age 26 for all individual and group policies. However, some states already mandate dependent coverage until age 28 or 29 and are exempt from this new rule.

No lifetime caps on coverage: Also expected to go into effect in September is the measure to prohibit health plans from placing any lifetime caps on coverage.

Early retirees: To encourage companies facing higher costs in providing insurance, the legislation will jumpstart a temporary reinsurance program for employers who provide coverage to retired workers between the ages of 55 and 64, who are too young for Medicare.

Without this incentive, this demographic would have to go uninsured, or buy their own insurance - usually at higher rates - if they were dropped by their employer's plan. The measure is expected to take effect in late June.

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"The government will refund all claims up to 80% of retiree claims valued between $15,000 and $90,000," said Michael Sturm, principal and consulting actuary with consulting firm Milliman Inc.

The reinsurance program will exist until 2014 or until the $5 billion set aside for the program is exhausted, Sturm said.

Medicare rebate: The legislation provides a $250 rebate in 2010 to Medicare beneficiaries who hit a Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage gap, also called the "doughnut hole" in which Medicare stops paying for drug coverage and patients can't afford to pay for drugs out-of-pocket.

Beginning in 2011, the reform measures will implement a 50% discount on prescription drugs that are in a doughnut hole for a beneficiary. The legislation aims to close the hole by 2020.

Free preventive care: The legislation eliminates co-payments and co-insurance in 2011 for preventive services and exempts preventive services from deductibles under the Medicare program.  

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Frank rebukes House staffer

"When Mr. Roberson was hired, it never occurred to me that he would jump so quickly from the committee staff to an industry that was being affected by the committee's legislation," Frank said in a statement.

Intercontinental had no comment other than to confirm that Roberson began working as the company's vice president of government relations in February, said spokesman Lee Underwood.

Roberson worked on the House regulatory overhaul bill, which would require trades of credit default swaps to be more transparent and traded on clearinghouses, such as the one owned by Intercontinental.

The murkiness and unregulated nature of credit default swaps contributed to a massive taxpayer bailout of American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500), which sold swaps to many Wall Street firms and banks. Exchange companies like Intercontinental eagerly await new rules requiring trades to be made on clearinghouses, and each wants to be the top go-to place for the service.

Federal law prevents Roberson from talking with House staffers on the House Financial Services panel for a year. But he's free to lobby the Senate staffers, who are in the midst of crafting similar overhaul legislation before a final Senate vote.

In Washington, it's common for congressional staffers to leave the federal government for better pay and better hours at companies that seek to influence legislation. Many lobbyists now working for banks, credit unions and derivative companies once worked for lawmakers crafting legislation.

What is unusual is Frank's public rebuke of a move.

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Frank said that when he heard Roberson was in talks with the exchange firm, he removed the staffer from payroll. Frank also banned committee staff from having any contact with Roberson as long as he is the chairman of that panel. That punishment goes beyond the regular one-year ban.

"Fortunately, examples of staff members doing what Mr. Roberson has done are rare," Frank said in a statement. "But even one example is far too much and that is why I wanted to make clear I share the unhappiness of people at this."

Roberson appears to be the first in-house lobbyist for Intercontinental, which paid lobbying firms some $690,000 to lobby Congress on regulatory overhaul in 2009, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

CNN's Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.  

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Inflation (CPI)

The so-called core CPI, which is closely watched by economists because it strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 1.3% over the past year, the smallest gain since February 2004.

February. For the month, overall prices were unchanged as declining energy prices offset increases in prices of food and other items. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting prices to rise 0.1%. Prices rose 0.2% in January.

Food costs edged up 0.1% during the month, while energy prices fell for the first time since April 2009, posting a 0.5% decline. The drop was due to a 1.4% dip in gasoline prices.

Core CPI for the month rose 0.1%, in line with economists' expectations and up from the 0.1% decrease in January.

Medical care costs rose for a second straight month and prices of new cars and used cars and trucks were also higher. The costs of clothing and airline fares decreased, while housing costs held steady.

The tame inflation reading supports the Federal Reserve's decision to continue to hold its key interest rate near zero.

"Core inflation continues to be a non-issue in the near-future, so the Fed's easy monetary policy can continue into the third and fourth quarter of this year without inflation being an issue," said Adam York, an economist at Wells Fargo.

He added that the oversupply in the housing market will continue to put downward pressure on home prices, which will hold core inflation low for up to a year.

"When the housing market returns to a normal level and then home prices begin rising, inflation will pick up, probably in early 2011" he said. "It will pick up steam throughout next year as we see the economy recover." 

Sweet incentives lift auto sales in MarchHome Prices