Labor/Economy

Ahead of Tuesday’s Case-Shiller numbers, Lender Processing Services released its LPS Home Price Index report, which is based on December 2012 residential real estate transactions. According to the index, U.S. home prices were up 0.1 percent in December compared with November, and up 5.8 percent year-over-year.

Gas prices did something a little unusual over the weekend: they went down slightly. According to AAA, Saturday’s national average was down a 10th of a cent per gallon compared with Friday, and Sunday’s average was down a bit more compared with Saturday, from $3.78 to $3.777 a gallon.

The Census Bureau reported on Wednesday that housing starts took a dip in January.

For the homebuilding industry, the last year or so has been one of increasing optimism, buoyed by increasing sales.

Recent economic news from Europe has been in part discouraging, but (remarkably) there have been some relatively optimistic stories lately as well.

The preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for February, which was released on Friday, increased to 76.3 from the January level of 73.8.

RealtyTrac reported on Thursday that U.S. foreclosure filings—meaning all default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—were reported on a bit more than 150,800 residential properties in January.