Home sales rise

Existing home sales -- including single-family, townhouses, condominiums and co-ops -- in November was revised downward to 4.45 million units.
While sales gained, home prices were down last month. The national median price of existing homes plunged by 15.3 percent from a year ago to 175,400 dollars, the lowest level since May 2003.
The 15.3-percent drop was the biggest year-over-year decrease on records going back to 1968. The median price is the point at which half of existing homes are sold for more and half sold for less.
For all of 2008, existing home sales plummeted more than 13 percent from a year earlier to 4.9 million units, marking the lowest total since 1997.
In one encouraging sign, the inventory of unsold homes at the end of December fell nearly 12 percent to 3.7 million units, the lowest level since January 2007.

Bank cuts rate

The bank has slashed 1.5 percentage points from its rate since last October.
However, Canada's chartered banks have not followed suit. In December, they passed on only two-thirds of the bank's cut of three-quarters of a percentage point.
Analysts said the rate cuts have done little to stimulate the economy so far.