AFP - Cyprus officially joined the eurozone at midnight (2200 GMT) on Tuesday, bidding farewell to the Cyprus pound and expanding the club of countries using the single European currency.

AP - Sales of previously owned homes nudged up in November, but that didn’t improve the broader picture of a feeble housing market racked by record-high foreclosures and harder-to-get credit.

Reuters - Stocks fell on Monday, but the market
managed to make a modest advance in 2007 after gains in energy
and technology offset the dramatic sell-off in financials from
the mortgage market meltdown.

Reuters - The pace of existing U.S. home sales
edged up in November from a record low, according to a report
on Monday that offered some tentative signs of stabilization in
the still-ailing housing market.

Reuters - Projections for S&P 500 companies’
fourth-quarter earnings swung to a 6.1 percent drop on Monday
from an 11.5 percent rise on October 1, in the biggest
quarterly move since Reuters Estimates started compiling
analysts’ forecasts in 1999.

Reuters - Single-family home builder M/I Homes
Inc. said on Monday it has sold some Florida land to
reduce debt, and is exiting the West Palm Beach market in that
state, sending shares up 3 percent in early trading.

Reuters - As more banks report write-downs tied
to the global credit crunch, analysts say Wachovia Corp
may have losses lurking in an area that has garnered less
investor attention.

Reuters - Stock index futures rose on Monday in
the final trading session of the year with little on the
corporate agenda and ahead of existing home sales data.

Reuters - British computer and video games
retailer Game Group Plc said it expected its full-year
profit to be ahead of an average market forecast after
continued strong sales in the run-up to Christmas, boosting its
shares.

AP - Rates on 30-year and one-year mortgages climbed this week, while rates on some other home loans didn’t budge.