The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that for the week ending January 14th, initial unemployment claims totaled 352,000, a sharp decrease of 50,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 402,000.

Even homebuilders are feeling a little more optimistic these days, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which was released on Wednesday.

The World Bank revised its prediction for the growth of the global economy in 2012 on Tuesday, and it wasn’t a change toward the upside.

Just when things in the euro zone were getting a little too quiet, Standard & Poors proved the rumors true late on Friday by downgrading the sovereign-debt rating of nine euro-using countries at one go.

U.S. retail sales in December edged up only slightly compared with November, seeing an increase of 0.1 percent.

The Fed observed that activity in residential real estate markets largely held steady at very low levels, with the exception of increases in the construction of multifamily residences.

The Federal Reserve gave the U.S. Treasury $76.9 billion in profits in 2011, not quite as much as in 2010, but still a very high total by historical standards.

CoreLogic reported that whatever steam the U.S. job market seems to be experiencing (overstated or not), that momentum hasn’t budged the housing market just yet.