► Recession is Over - Can You Feel It - YouTube HD

Analysis: Fears of slowdown fade as economy shows some muscle‎ The deal includes $17 billion for relief to about 1 million current homeowners, the majority of which would come through reductions in the principal they owe on their mortgages. Another $5 billion in cash would go directly to California and the states as restitution for foreclosure paperwork problems and other improprieties by the servicers in the foreclosure process. About $1.5 billion of that state money will be distributed directly to people whose homes were foreclosed from 2008 through 2011 and there was some operational problem, such as lost paperwork. Officials estimated hundreds of thousands of homeowners would get money as part of that settlement, though the average check would be $1,500 and $2,000. The U.S. economy was today boosted again as the labour market continues to firm up, with the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits falling unexpectedly last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 358,000, and the four-week moving average for new claims fell 11,000 to 366,250, the U.S. Labor Department said. The average figure, seen as a better measure of labour market trends, is now at its lowest level since April 2008.