Bargain hunters may be snatching up distressed existing homes, but they still seem skittish of new homes, according to a report released Thursday from the U.S. Commerce Department. ...more

January 30, 2009

OPEC on Wednesday agreed to slash 2.2 million barrels from its daily production - its single largest cut ever - while bloc outsiders Russia and Azerbaijan announced their own cutbacks of hundreds of thousands of barrels from the market. ...more

December 18, 2008

Home sales prices declined at record rates across the country in September. In the Tampa Bay area, prices continued to fall but hovered around the same rate of decline as the previous month. Bay area sales prices fell 18.5 percent in September compared with a year ago, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index released this morning. ...more

November 25, 2008

There is new trouble at the ranch. The worsening financial crisis is making it harder and more expensive for farmers and cattlemen to borrow money to pay for feed, land and salaries. While the credit squeeze on the agricultural sector is buffered somewhat by subsidies and other federal assistance, the timing is bad: the costs of fertilizer, fuel, seed and equipment have all risen sharply in recent years, and a global recession is on the horizon. ...more

October 18, 2008

A growing share of home sales are from foreclosures, especially in states hardest hit by the housing bust. In some parts of California lately, nearly 50 percent of home sales come from foreclosed houses. ...more

February 12, 2008

Every time a piece of weak economic news coincides with a new high in oil and gold prices, we read the next day the Federal Reserve has an "inflation problem," limiting its option of lowering interest rates to resuscitate the economy. ...more

January 8, 2008