Business news for Sat, 29 Dec 2007 & with words commerce+department. 6 news.

Sales of new homes in the US fell to a 12-year low in November, portending bigger declines in construction that will hobble economic growth throughout 2008. Purchases dropped 9 percent to an annual pace of 647,000, the Commerce Department said...

Plans to get Greensburg's destroyed Twilight Theatre back in business are progressing. The theater's board and benefactors -- including Bill Warren -- want to break ground next spring for a $1.5 million, 414-seat facility on the southeast corner of Main and Florida. That's the long-term goal. A shorter-term issue is the need to sell $63,000 in tax credits recently acquired from the Kansas Department of Commerce -- by the close of business Monday. Tax credits are an investment vehicle producing a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the owner's tax liability. The theater was among the downtown Greensburg buildings destroyed when a tornado leveled most of the city May 4. The new Twilight is at least a year off, but progress toward restoring the community's gathering place is welcome, said theater board member Randy Kelly.

STOCKS finished an erratic week narrowly mixed yesterday after a government report of a steep decline in new home sales stirred concerns that weakness in housing will continue to dog the economy. The Commerce Department report that new home sales fell 9 percent from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000 triggered renewed nervousness that consumers could become uneasy and tamp down their spending. Stocks, which fell more than 1 percent Thursday following unwelcome economic readings and the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, fluctuated through the day yesterday. The Chicago purchasing managers' index had for a time offered some support to investor sentiment yesterday after it showed a stronger-than-expected increase for December manufacturing activity in the Midwest. But Wall Street appeared unable to hold onto its enthusiasm for too long. Investors are eager for any economic data that can help illuminate whether weakness in the

Sales of single-family homes fell 9 percent last month, the Commerce Department said, for a seasonally adjusted annual rate that is the slowest pace since April 1995.

New-home sales tumbled last month to their lowest level in more than 12 years, the Commerce Department said Friday, as housing shows no sign of a...

Sales of new homes nationwide fell 9 percent in November overall - except in the West where they rose 4 percent, according to a report from the Commerce Department released this morning.