RJ and Makay

Home prices in most major U.S. cities have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst, shows the latest reading of the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index. The 20-city index fell 1% from November to December, and Washington was the only city in the index to see its home prices rise during that period.

The overall decline in the index was the sixth in as many months and the eighth in the past 11 months. Furthermore, in December, housing prices in 11 of the cities in the index hit their lowest point since the housing bust of 2006 and 2007. Those cities were Atlanta, Charlotte, NC, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Portland, OR, Seattle, and Tampa, FL.

New applications for unemployment benefits fell significantly last week — by 42,000 to 415,000, says the Department of Labor (DOL). The continuing unemployment claims picture is looking a bit better, too. In the week ending January 22, continuing unemployment claims fell by 84,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.93 million. Continuing claims reflect the number of people who previously filed for and are receiving jobless benefits.

Last week's drop in new applications was slightly better than predicted by economists, who were expecting a decline to a seasonally adjusted 418,000. The number of new claims for the prior week was revised higher by 3,000 to 457,000, the DOL notes.