The Case-Shiller index reached a bottom last March, which means the year-over-year comparisons could begin to show less dramatic growth in the months ahead.
By contrast, more than 60% of Americans fit this description, according to a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index last year.
Last month a much-watched index of business confidence rose by more than analysts had expected, perhaps because of the strong profits performance that was evident when the latest set of quarterly results were announced.
Whereas double lows or previous resistance areas made themselves known to the SPX, RUT and DJIA, it was an important round-number level on the MID that came into play last week, as the index made its first-ever run at 1, 000 on Friday.
The last time the home-builder confidence index was above 50 was in April, 2006.
In addition to the jobs data last week the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index rose to 56, which suggests that the economy is growing nicely and will continue to do so.
And while home prices, as measured by the Case-Shiller index, have risen for the last eight months, they are still nearly 30% off their mid-2006 peak.
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The ministry stopped publishing its nation-wide home price index last year.
That's the contention of Carol Adelman, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who has spent the last four years compiling the first-ever Index of Global Philanthropy.
The dollar index last week hit a five-week low and bears still have some downside near-term technical momentum.
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The UN's 2006 Human Development Index placed Guatemala last in Spanish-speaking Latin America, below Honduras, Bolivia and Nicaragua.
How's this for a contrary indicator: The first exchange-traded bond index funds debuted last Friday and then were followed by Monday's ferocious stock market rally.
The National Federation of Independent Business's small-business optimism index dropped 0.2 point to 91.2 last month following a steep 3-point drop in June.
Meanwhile, small-capitalization stocks have run up 36% since early October, pushing the Russell 2000 small-cap index to within 4% of the all-time high that it hit last April.
The China HSBC Flash Manufacturing Index released last weekend rose to 13-month high of 50.4 in November.
Emerging market and investment grade bonds have sold off in the last few days, and the dollar high-yield index has plateaued, but European high-yield has remained on course, edging higher.
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That lifted the share price of his Hong Kong-listed real estate-led flagship Wharf Holdings by 77% in 2012, triple the rise last year in the property-heavy Hang Seng stock index.
The Russell 2000 small-cap index declined 15% over the last 12 months and is down 11.5% since the start of the year.
The index hit a nine-week low last week.
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Consumer confidence saw a sharp ten-point improvement from last month, and the ISM Manufacturing Index was strong on Friday.
The Financial Times Latin-America Index is down 6% over the last five weeks.
Now, with last weeks introduction of UBS E-TRACS Alerian Natural Gas MLP Index ETN ( MLPG), there are five such products.
Racing apparel may explain why no American city landed last month on an index of the world's 20 bike-friendliest cities.
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Peugeot, a founding member of the main French stock market index, the Cac-40, was demoted last year as a result of its tumbling share price.
Higher crude oil prices was likely a factor in higher manufacturing costs last month, as the prices paid index jumped to a two-and-a-half-year high of 53.2 from 45.8.
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Last month the folks who run the benchmark Russell 2000 small-cap index did their annual reconstitution--replacing 377 of the 2, 000 companies that had outgrown or become too small to fit the index.
The Nasdaq, the US' technology index, plummeted by 39.3% last year - the biggest drop in its history - and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 6.2% - its first loss in 10 years.
And there is no sign of the widespread mania in the high-tech world that occurred last time around: the NASDAQ stockmarket index, a bellwether for the tech industry, has been rising but is still far below its peak of March 2000.
The HSBC flash Purchasing Managers Index for China, reported last week, hit a two-year high of 51.9 and was seen as a continuing sign that the country is emerging from a two-year slowdown.
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