Stocks are sluggish… Home prices rise slowly … Nervous investors blamed for oil price rise

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks have had a sluggish opening. The Dow Jones industrial average held steady today while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up. U.S. markets are still hovering near all-time highs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers are more confident about the economy than they have been in more than six years. The Conference Board says its confidence index rose to the highest since January 2008, a month after the Great Recession officially began.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of new U.S. homes rose in May to the highest level in six years, providing the strongest signal yet that housing is recovering from a recent slowdown. The Commerce Department says new home sales jumped 18.6 percent in May, pushing the seasonally adjusted annual sales rate to the highest level since May 2008.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices rose in April from a year ago at the slowest pace in 13 months. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 10.8 percent in April from 12 months earlier. That’s a healthy gain, but the smallest since March 2013. Annual price gains slowed in 19 of the 20 cities. Only Boston saw price increases accelerate.

NEW YORK (AP) — Some comforting news for recent college graduates: That college degree is still worth it. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report today that finds those with a bachelor’s or associate’s degree earn more money over their lifetimes than those who skip college. How much more? About $1.2 million for those holding bachelor’s degrees, $325,000 more for those with associate’s degrees.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The head of the group of major oil exporters says market fears caused by the crisis in Iraq and investor speculation, rather than a drop in output, are to blame for recent crude price increases. OPEC’s secretary general says today that Iraq is “still producing as normal,” with 95 percent of its capacity in the country’s south being unaffected by the violence.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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