AFP - US homebuilding showed a surprisingly strong jump in April, signaling a ray of hope amid the rubble of the worst housing slump in decades, according to government data released Friday.

AP - Wall Street capped a week of big gains with modest moves Friday as investors grappled with surging energy prices that overshadowed news of a surprise increase in home construction.

Reuters - Consumer confidence tumbled to its lowest in 28 years this month, a survey showed on Friday, as short-term inflation expectations reached the highest levels since the stagflationary early 1980s.

Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday that markets have calmed down to the point where prices will be driven by economic factors including an improving housing market rather than by fear.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday he believes the financial crisis is winding down, but that it would take some time to fully emerge from the economic malaise.

Reuters - Stocks finished little changed on Friday as surging oil prices lifted energy shares and offset data that showed consumer confidence sank to its lowest in 28 years.

Reuters - U.S. consumer confidence tumbled to a 28-year low this month as rising prices strained household finances, while another drop in single-family housing starts underscored problems still plaguing the economy.

AP - Construction of new homes increased by the biggest percentage in more than two years in April, a rare spot of good news amid the worst downturn in housing in more than two decades.

AP - Jennifer Marsh was sick of paying high gas prices and bothered by the abandoned gas station that was an eyesore on the drive to her studio each day.

Reuters - The number of U.S. workers filing claims for initial jobless benefits rose by 6,000 in the latest week while the number on benefit rolls after a first week of aid hit a four-year high, a government report showed on Thursday.

Reuters - Sixty nine percent of Americans see gasoline prices as a serious problem for their families but only 41 percent favor a temporary repeal of the gasoline tax as proposed by presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton, a poll released on Thursday said.