Briefcase

Homebuilders worry recovery is stalled

WASHINGTON – U.S. homebuilders are concerned the struggling housing market won’t recover this year.

Builders’ outlook for the industry in May was unchanged at 16, the National Association of Home Builders said Monday. Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the market. The index hasn’t been above that level since April 2006.

Last year the number of people who purchased previously owned homes fell to a 13-year low. Sales of new homes were even worse, hitting the lowest level on records dating back nearly a half-century.

Associated Press

RIM recalling PlayBook computers

SAN FRANCISCO – BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion Ltd. has recalled about 1,000 of its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computers due to defective operating software that can make it impossible for users to set up the device.

The gadget maker said Monday that it learned that the affected tablets were shipped with software “that may result in the devices unable to properly load software upon initial setup.” Only PlayBooks with 16 gigabytes of memory were affected, RIM said, and the majority of them had not yet been sold to customers.

Associated Press

Late payments, defaults down

NEW YORK – The nation’s top six credit card companies are giving investors more evidence that card users are in control of their spending and payments.

All but one of the banks report that late payments and defaults set multi-year lows for April. Only Bank of America says defaults rose, and its rate is still at a two-year low.

Capital One reports the biggest drop in late defaults, down to levels last seen in late 2007.

Bank of America and Citibank show the most improvement for late payments. Bank of America reports its best late-payment rate since mid-2006, so defaults should resume falling soon.

Associated Press