shepard: well, there may be a bright spot in sputtering economic recovery. more americans bought previously owned homes last month that be at any time in the last two years. according to the national association of realtors, sales sored nearly 8% to an annual rate of 4.8 million. that s the highest it s been since may of 2010 when tax credits led to a boom in house buying. still the realty group reports the number of first-time home buyers was actually down a bit last month. that, they tell us, could be due to stricter credit standards which make it a whole lot harder for folks to qualify for loans. the housing report helps stocks keep steady dow up 13. nasdaq up 5. s&p 500 up about 2 points. fox business network gerri willis is in. also resale prices of homes is up as well. big number, $187,400 is the
no one cared that he was gay. a legal network for them estimates 14,000 were booted from the military because of don t ask, don t tell. authorities could decide whether a condemned man lives or dies. troy davis was convicted of murder in 1989. if the state does not intervene he will be put to death at 7:00 p.m. eastern. davis supporters say he is innocent and the officer s family says justice is overdue. both sides spoke before the parole board. no time is easy when you have to go before the pardons and parole board but feel like we got to say what we needed to say. they heard the truth which is the most important part. and i believe that they will probably favor in our favor. i would be petrified but troy, troy has an understanding of this is bigger than him. this is about a judicial system that may possibly need to change and get better so that this doesn t really happen. the board could commute his death sentence to life without parole or could deny clemency and
shepard: all right. well, that s good news. gerri willis from the biz. thank you. my pleasure. shepard: we learned fewer people filed for jobless benefits last week. the number of newly unemployed americans filing for first time for claims benefits dropped by 6,000. that s according to the u.s. labor department, which reports the total number of americans getting jobless benefits also fell. on the today show, the treasury secretary tim geithner said that the obama administration remains concerned about the jobs market, even as the rest of the economy seems to be turning around. going to start to see businesses across the country start to add to payroll again. that s going to come the economy growing now. that s the first step with growth, more jobs will come. the unemployment rate is still terribly high. we re all very worried that it s going to take time. it s going to take time to bring back what we lost. shepard: wall street didn t seem to mind a bit. the dow was up to