News, Ideas and Information from Around the Web

Builder Confidence Slips In March
from National Association of Home Builders
Builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes receded in March, largely on concerns about deepening problems in the subprime mortgage arena, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today. After rising fairly steadily since its recent low last September, the HMI declined three points from a downwardly revised 39 reading in February to 36 in March... read more

Home Depot CEO Says No Plans to go Private
from WashingtonPost.com
The chairman and chief executive of Home Depot Inc. said on Wednesday the home improvement retailer plans to remain a publicly owned company... read more

Idle Patents Attract Entrepreneurs
from Yahoo! News
Dilip Kotecha figured his working days were over when he retired from the food-manufacturing industry. But after an unused patent for instant yogurt landed in his lap, he couldn't resist turning the dormant technology into a business... read more

NAM Calls Job Report "A Tale of Two Sectors"
Housing Slump Continues to Impact Manufacturers
from the National Association of Manufacturers
Today’s Labor Department report that 97,000 jobs were added in February, the smallest monthly rise since November, 2004, is a “sign that the economy is expanding only at a moderate rate because of the downturn in the housing market,” said David Huether, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers... read more

EU Charges Float Manufacturers with Price Fixing
from e-glass weekly
The European Union issued antitrust charges against Japan’s Asahi Glass Co. and its Belgian subsidiary Glaverbel; Guardian Industries Corp. of Auburn Hills, Mich.; Japan’s Nippon Sheet Glass Co. and its subsidiary Pilkington, of the United Kingdom; and Saint-Gobain of France, according to a March 15 article from Bloomberg... read more