Labor/Economy

The Case-Shiller indexes were down again during the first three months of the year, and the consensus among residential market observers is that the home-price “double dip” is here–the phrasing that Case-Shiller uses to describe the state of the residential market, in fact.

It was a long holiday weekend in the United States, but across the Atlantic, Euro-bureaucrats and -bankers were at work trying to keep Greece from defaulting on its debts and thus doing some kind of unpredictable harm to the euro.

Foreclosures make up a slightly higher percentage of the residential sales; GDP growth is dragging its feet; and gas prices have not dampened American travel plans.

The Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation is mostly optimistic about global economic growth; the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s index shows house prices down last quarter; and Congress seems to be taking the debt ceiling less seriously than political theater.

New home sales ticked upward by 7.3 percent last month; Chrysler pays off its debt to the U.S. and Canadian governments; and banks just had their best quarter in four years.

The state of California has created a mortgage-fraud task force; Toys R Us is putting in the country’s largest largest solar rooftop installation; and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index took a dive last month.

Labor statistics for April vary from state to state; IMF makes a 26 billion-euro loan to Portugal; and Donald Trump’s school is under investigation.