Economy/Ecommerce

The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed that on average home prices increased 1.3 percent in the month of April for both the 10- and 20-City Composites.

The Census Bureau recently reported that new home sales in May were at an annualized rate of 369,000 units, up 7.6 percent from the revised April rate of 343,000 units.

Late last week word broke that Spain was going to formally request what the country has so far only informally requested, namely financial assistance from the EU for its sickly banking sector.

Existing U.S. home sales dropped by 1.5 percent month-over-month in May, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Federal Open Market Committee issued a statement about the economy and what it plans to do in the near future about its stubborn sluggishness.

The Census Bureau reported that U.S. housing starts in May came in at an annualized rate of 708,000 units, which is 4.8 percent below the revised April estimate of 744,000 units per year.

Polls closed in Greece at noon Eastern time on Sunday, and preliminary results indicated that the pro-bailout New Democracy party won about 30 percent of the seats in the Greek parliament.

RealtyTrac reported that U.S. foreclosure filings spiked 9 percent in May compared with April, by which the company means an aggregation of properties vexed by default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions.