Sonja Rudd Department Quotations

New home sales surprised the experts. The Commerce Department said that new home sales were up by 13.8% for March, and last week used home sales were up as well. One economist says that the housing market still has a lot of room to maneuver and that a slump is more like a 'soft landing' for 2006. The 30-year mortgage is averaging 6.49% nationwide.

The Labor Department also noted that for 2005 consumer prices overall rose by the largest rate in five years, partly because of spiraling interest rates and energy prices. The CPI was up by 3.4% for the 12 months ending in December. However, taking out core numbers from food and energy, the number was up only 2.2%.

The Labor Department noted that first time claims were down to 271,000, some of the lowest numbers since 2000. New housing starts fell 8.9% in December according to the Commerce Department and new building permits also dropped by 4.4%.

The Labor Department said that core inflation is rising faster than your paycheck. Through the first three months of this year overall inflation is up by 4.3%, last year the rate was 3.4%. Energy prices are up by 21.8% compared with 17.1% last year; core inflation, excluding food and energy, is up by 2.8% and March was the largest increase in all categories.