Market Insights

Retailers used to be able to count on Americans spending every penny of their tax refund.

Pending home sales were down slightly in February but remain notably above the pattern in the first half of last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, eased 0.5% to 96.5 in February from 97.0 in January but is 9.2% above February 2011 when it was 88.4. The data reflects contracts but not closings.

A respected real estate consultant believes the Western drought is likely to have an impact on the housing market, including -- unfortunately -- a reduction in demand.

We asked readers for the single biggest reason to introduce new products. 

By Joe Szvetitz

Senior management of this multi-store operation was making business decisions, mostly purchases based on information that they believed was accurate. Having been associated with retail loss prevention for about 40 years has given me a good vantage point to see what actually causes loss or shortage/shrink in a retail location and, honestly, it is not hard to recognize. We all know that the three major contributors to loss are: 1) Employee theft (43.7%); 2) Shoplifting (32.6%); and 3) Paperwork errors (12.9%).

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

Stocks had a much better day Thursday, with most showing gains.

Home mortgage lending abuses and "robo-signing" of foreclosure papers have led to one of the largest settlements ever -- amounting to $25 billion in relief. The settlement with the five largest loan services will be used in a variety of complicated ways to help distressed borrowers, states and the federal government, according to the plan.

Below are some comments from readers.