Pasadena Chamber of Commerce

From the Los Angeles Times:

Stocks waver amid mixed signals on the economy

NEW YORK — Mixed reports on the economy and earnings left the stock market drifting lower today, easing off of a two-week rally that lifted major indexes 11 percent.

A government report showing sales of new homes in the U.S. rose by the largest amount in nearly nine years last month, but also contained troubling news that home prices fell sharply from a year earlier. Stocks got an early lift from the report but then quickly turned lower.

New-home sales up 11% in June from previous month

Sales of new single-family homes were up 11% in June from the month before, as buyers responded to price cuts and tax credits meant to clear the still-massive backlog of unsold homes.

June’s sales total was still the lowest for the month since 1982 and was 21% below the same month the prior year, U.S. Census Bureau data showed.

June existing home sales rise by 3.6 percent

WASHINGTON — Signaling a housing recovery is under way in much of the country, sales of previously occupied homes rose for the third month in a row in June.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that home sales rose 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.72 million in May. Home sales haven’t risen for three straight months since early 2004, during the housing boom.

File this one under smart people stating the obvious, or is he just now catching on?

Reporting from Kansas City, Mo. — After taking a pounding in Congress over the economic crisis and the multibillion-dollar bailout of ailing financial firms, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke went to Middle America to try to explain the central bank’s actions and shore up its bruised image.

In his efforts to open a window into the traditionally secretive institution, Bernanke conceded to an assembled audience here Sunday that the Federal Reserve did not act soon enough to stop reckless mortgage lending that fueled the global financial crisis.

Paul