Market Insights

Of the 30 stocks tracked by HBSDealer, 16 increased in value on Thursday. Leading the way were FAST, LL, CENT and VAL.  

Sears Hometown took the biggest tumble at the close of Wednesday, with a -2.79% decline to a price of $6.98.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index rose 2.0% to 97.0 in January, according to data released yesterday.

According to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, the numbers inspire hope for an active home-buying season this spring.

Joe Scarlett explains that we’re only human, and that’s why hiring is so important

The S&P/Case-Shiller Index, a leading indicator of U.S. housing prices, showed home prices decrease in the second consecutive month in November 2011, posting annual returns of -3.6% and -3.7% in the 10-city and 20-city composites versus November 2010, worse than the -3.2% and -3.4% annual rates reported for October’s annual comparisons. 

Over 2 in 5 Americans who have ever owned a pet have let their pet lick their plate before washing them.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $400.6 billion.

The December figure is up 0.1% from November, and up 6.5% from December 2010.

Total sales for the October through December 2011 period were up 7.0% from the same period a year ago.

Year-over-year starts are up, but many other measures of activity are down.