The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® which had declined sharply in June, retreated further in July. The Index now stands at 50.4 (1985=100), down from 54.3 in June. The Present Situation Index decreased to 26.1 from 26.8. The Expectations Index declined to 66.6 from 72.7 last month. Read the rest of this entry »

 Data through May 2010, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (only Las Vegas showed a decline in these statistics), the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that the annual growth rates in 15 of the 20 MSAs and the 10- and 20-City Composites improved in May compared to those reported for April 2010. The 10-City Composite is up 5.4 percent and the 20-City Composite is up 4.6 percent from where they were in May 2009. While 19 MSAs and both Composites reported positive monthly changes in May over April, only 12 of the MSAs and the two Composites saw better month-over-month growth rates in May than those reported in April. Read the rest of this entry »

Sales of new single-family houses in June 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 23.6 percent above the revised May rate of 267,000, but is 16.7 percent  below the June 2009 estimate of 396,000.

The median sales price of new houses sold in June 2010 was $213,400; the average sales price was $242,900. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 210,000. This represents a supply of 7.6 months at the current sales rate.

(See also The Las Vegas Sun)

SouthwestUSA Bank, Las Vegas, Nevada, was closed today by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Plaza Bank, Irvine, California, to assume all of the deposits of SouthwestUSA Bank. Read the rest of this entry »

By ROBERT D. HERSHEY Jr.  

Daniel Schorr, whose aggressive reporting over 70 years as a respected broadcast and print journalist brought him into conflict with censors, the Nixon administration and network superiors, died Friday in Washington. He was 93.  

His death was announced by National Public Radio, where he had been a commentator for two decades. A spokeswoman, Anna Christopher, said he died at a Washington hospital after a short illness. He lived in Washington.  

Mr. Schorr, a protégé of Edward R. Murrow at CBS News, initially made his mark at CBS as a foreign correspondent, most notably in the Soviet Union. He opened the network’s Moscow bureau in 1955 and became well enough acquainted with the Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev — whom he called “the most fascinating person I ever met” — to secure for “Face the Nation” the first television interview for which Khrushchev ever sat. (He had never even done one for Soviet television.) At the end of 1957 Mr. Schorr went home for the holidays and was denied readmission to the Soviet Union.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/business/media/24schorr.html?ref=obituaries