The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that its monthly reading of builders' sentiment was unchanged in January at 16, where it's been since November.

While it remains the highest reading since June, any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the market. The index hasn't been above that level since April 2006.

"At this point, housing remains on the sidelines of a weak economic recovery as consumers and builders wait for clear and consistent indications that jobs and economic output are reviving," said David Crowe, the trade association's chief economist.

Many smaller, private builders also continue to have a tough time getting construction loans and other financing, which could significantly slow the onset of a housing recovery, Crowe noted.

High unemployment, tighter bank lending standards and uncertainty about home prices have kept many people from buying homes, despite low mortgage rates and home prices that have fallen by more than half in some markets since the peak of the housing boom.

The state's public worker pension fund has settled a federal securities fraud lawsuit against Merrill Lynch & Co. and two former company officials for $4.25 million.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund had opted out of a similar class action suit and negotiated the settlement with Bank of America, which bought Merrill Lynch in 2008.

"The Fund was misled about the extent of Merrill Lynch's participation in the subprime mortgage fiasco; that is unacceptable," said state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the fund's sole trustee.

DiNapoli, a Democrat, said Thursday he was confident the settlement "makes up for a large part of the fund's losses" from Merrill Lynch.

Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin confirmed the settlement but declined to comment further.

The suit claimed the now-$133 billion fund lost money because of Merrill Lynch's role in the mortgage-backed securities market, saying it was deliberately covered up and artificially inflated the company's stock value. That value plummeted when the exposure became known publicly.

The settled lawsuit also had named E. Stanley O'Neal and Jeffrey N. Edwards, the company's former chief executive and chief financial officers.

The fund has more than 1 million members, employees and retirees from state and local governments. Its value dropped from its historic high of about $154 billion in spring 2008 to $110 billion a year later as the economy stopped growing and the stock market tumbled, in part from losses in mortgage-backed securities.

The Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. Files a $1.5 Million Whistleblower Claim Against Raymond James & Associates, Inc.

The Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. www.suemyadvisor.com, announced today it filed an arbitration claim against Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (“RJA”), (NYSE: RJF) on behalf of a former Operations Manager.

The claim alleges that the Claimant, while serving as an Operations Manager for one of RJA’s California branch offices, consistently reported on a series of inappropriate and violative sales practices by the branch manager, and certain other financial advisors of the branch office to regional management,
senior management and home office compliance department. Some of the alleged violations included unsuitable trading and churning in accounts of elderly customers, failure to respond to exception reports, unapproved seminar speaking, misuse of marketing funds and mismarking trade confirmations.

Claimant was then terminated and allegedly defamed on his Form U5 in alleged retaliation for threatening to speak to regulators.

Michael Hill, Managing Partner with the Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. says, “one would think that given Raymond James’ and its affiliates’ regulatory history of supervisory failures, according to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, that it would act on compliance reports from its field force and increase its compliance posture to protect the investing public.”

For a free case evaluation or to discuss this matter, please contact the Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. at 888-923-9223, or visit us on the web at www.suemyadvisor.com.

U.S. import prices increased 1.1% in December, just below the 1.2% expected. The Labor Department revised November's import increase to 1.5% and reported that import prices gained 4.8% overall in 2010, instigated by higher fuel prices since October.

The report said U.S. exports increased 0.7% in December and 6.5% in 2010. Agricultural exports, which peaked in November, led to a 6.5% increase in overall exports compared to 2009, the largest increase since 1983, when the index debuted.

Elsewhere Wednesday morning, the Department of Energy released the crude oil inventories for the week ending Jan. 7, reporting that they are at the upper limit of the average range for this time of the year. Commercial petroleum inventories increased by 900,000 barrels last week, meeting rising demand.

Crude oil futures gained $1.11 to $92.22 a barrel Wednesday morning.

The DOE reported that total petroleum products supplied over the last four weeks increased 4.1% compared to last year. Demand for gasoline increased 1.9% and distillate fuel increased 3.6%. Crude oil imports were up by 449,000 at 8.9 million barrels.

The report showed U.S. refineries slowed down production last week, possibly affected by the four-day shutdown of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline after a leak was discovered. Refineries operated at 86.4% of their capacities last week, according to the report, with 260,000 less barrels at refineries than the previous week, at 14.7 million barrels.

A statewide class action in which Massachusetts homeowners accuse U.S. Bancorp and Ally Financial Inc. of faulty foreclosures will resume now that the state’s high court ruled in a similar case last week.

The litigation was on hold while the Supreme Judicial Court decided whether state law required foreclosures to be conducted by the mortgage owner. The high court ruled Jan. 7 in U.S. Bank v. Ibanez that an industry practice allowing post-foreclosure assignments violated state law.

“This is a statewide class action and it’s going to bring relief to all of the people who are dispossessed homeowners in many instances,” Kevin Costello, a lawyer for the borrowers, said in a telephone interview today. Costello today filed a motion to restart evidence gathering in the case.

Claims of wrongdoing by banks and loan servicers triggered a 50-state investigation last year into whether hundreds of thousands of foreclosures were properly documented as the housing market collapsed.

Unwinding of foreclosures may lead to loan workouts with homeowners or force originators to buy back loans that ended up in mortgage-backed securities.