fossil fuel industry when he s part of the problem. alisyn: obviously the states are taking the matters into their own hands. let s look where gas prices are. we belly ache about it in new york. but in hawaii it s the highest. $4.59. alaska $4.36. the farther you get out of the continental u.s., california, $4.32. illinois, $4.26. in illinois, they passed a law that they have their own specific blend for gasoline. there is on two refineries in the country that can make it. if one of those go down their prices in chicago go up 30 cents. that s the political aspect of it. and may 1 when we go to the summer blend there is only one refinery that can make gasoline for chicago.
unemployment benefits. that number fell slightly down 6,000 from the previous week. this is a weekly number. to about 472,000. some economists say that suggests that the pace of layoffs may have eased be ate a bit, but keep in mind overall it s usually under 400,000, so that number s still of concern, and the white house takes note of it. other numbers out today, productivity which is the amount of output per hour of work fell in the second quarter, that s april to june, fell 1.8%. that s the largest amount in nearly four years. and labor costs rose 1.1%, that s the biggest rise in labor costs since late 2008. this coupled with the productivity drop indicates that the reduced work forces companies are putting out as much as they can. finally, the latest bit of economic news, home buyers, it s a great time to get a mortgage. the rate for a 30-year fixed loan is 4.32% this week, that s down from 4.36% last week.
when he was president, stay the course and the things he has put in place will eventually work. that is what he is saying. he feels that in terms of what he has done, long term it will make him a great president and put him on mount. rushmore change america from a greedy nation to a quiet, socialist nation that knows its place in the world and will be a go along with it and democrats take a loss, it is martyrs to his revolution. martha: always good talking to you, steve. thank you, martha. thank you. rick: and sticking with the economic fox news alert, mortgage rates falling to the lowest level in decades, mortgage buyer freddie mac, who tax these things, reporting the average 30 year mortgage is 4.36. that is the lowest on record, since 1971. so, there are some deals out there, except that the other part of the fox news alert, is that we re also learning today
of sales of previously owned homes dropped to lowest level in 15 years. new home sales fell to a record low. looking forward, some analysts say they expect a slow climb out of this housing hole, jon. all of this is good news for those in the market to buy because property damage rates hit mother report low. mortgage rates continue to break record lows. average interest rate for 30 year fixed loan fell to 4.36%. the lowest since mortgage giant freddie mac started tracking these numbers about 30 years ago. that and lower housing prices mean good news for home buyers if they can get a loan. that s been a problem for some americans. jon: fed chairman been bernanke is expected to give us his outlook. earlier this month. the fed downgraded outlook forecasting a more moderate economic recovery. since then more reports and signals the recovery is slowing. tomorrow, we ll listen closely to the chairman to see if he
cries kicked off. the. home price index tracks home prices in 20 meant metropolitan areas, and every one of those markets showed gains. what s behind this? let me show you where these prices are on fire. usual suspects here. san francisco, up 24%. vegas up 23%. phoenix up 21%. one year s gain, and even these prices are 25% below highs of 2006. whys are these prices up? well, interest rates are low, low, low, mortgage rates at 4.36%. and there s not a lot of inventory so everybody is competing for the same house. we have bidding wars. let me tell you, it s a frenzied market. shepard: sounds like there s something on the horizon that might dampen spirits. his name is ben bernanke. at any moment he may stop