Gerald Ford passes away
Gerald Ford, the only unelected US president, who held the reins of the US presidency in the post Vietnam era recently passed away.

Ford was the only President of the US in the history of the country as being the only man to occupy both the vice-presidency and the presidency without being elected to either office.

He took over the role when the vice-president, Spiro Agnew, and president Richard Nixon were forced out of office after being exposed in the Watergate scandal.

When Ford came to the presidency in August 1974 US was reeling from a series of blows to its sense of direction and identity in the world.

The conclusion of a "peace" in Vietnam in 1973 came after a humiliating and costly military defeat and the spectre of a complete failure of foreign policy, which cast a large question over the fundamental morality of American actions overseas.
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US Economy: sales of new homes rise better than forecast
Sales of new houses in the US rose 3.4 per cent last month which was more than forecast earlier. The sale of 1.047 million followed a rate of 1.013 million the month before, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Economists had expected a gain of 1.6 percent.

The figures, along with the jump in housing starts reported last week, suggest the industry downturn that helped slow economic growth this year might not have the same impact in 2007. The year-on-year increase in median house prices last month was the most in five months.

Still, the number of unsold houses — including homes not started, under construction and completed — remained near a record low.

The Standard & Poor's Supercomposite Homebuilding Index climbed 1.9 percent to 699.31. The S&P 500 index rose 0.8 percent. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note reached a six-week high, jumping 5 basis points to 4.65 pe cent.
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Dow closes above 12,500
New York: U.S. stocks zoomed on Wednesday, resulting in the Dow closing above 12,500 for the first time ever.

The Dow gained 102.94, or 0.8 percent, to close at 12,510.57 after rising as high as 12,519.22. On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,615 stocks advanced and 727 declined on volume of more than 1.7 billion shares.

The Standard & Poor`s 500-stock index rose 9.94, or 0.7 percent, to 1,426.84.

The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 17.71, or 0.7 percent, to 2,431.22.

The London Stock Exchange`s FTSE 100 Index rose 55.20 points, or 0.89 percent, to close at 6,245.20. Japan`s Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.31 percent to finish at 17,223.15.
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