Government

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) announced the promotion of both Mike Kull and Dean Dardzinski to VP national account manager.

The Department of Commerce reported Monday that spending in December ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $930.5 billion, 0.1 percent above November's revised estimate of $929.9 billion and 5.3 percent ahead of December 2012's $883.6 billion. December's figure was the highest since March 2009, when spending ran at a rate of $955.0 billion. Residential construction came in at a rate of $357.4 billion, its highest since June 2008.

The nation's economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter, helped along by improvements in consumer spending and business investment. In its "advance" estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) last quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) put growth at an estimated annual rate of 3.2 percent. Last quarter's increase was driven mostly by positive contributions from personal consumer expenditures, nonresidential fixed investment, and exports.

Molly Scherf has been named to oversee large bank supervision at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the agency announced.

Instead of bringing America together and setting us forth on the path towards economic growth and prosperity, what President Obama did in his State of the Union address was offer of the same misguided, go-it-alone ideas we've heard before, as opposed to real job creation and economic growth. Rather than go through the same divisive rhetoric and "stale political arguments" Americans have grown tired of, let's agree to put politics aside and do what's best for everyone, not just the chosen few.

In his speech Tuesday night, the president only directly mentioned housing twice: first to describe the market as "rebounding" and again to demand from Congress "legislation that protects the taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again." While the second might be seen as a nod toward legislative movements to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the topic wasn't explored any further. Instead, much of Obama's focus went toward addressing wage stagnation.

New home sales softened for the second straight month in December, falling well short of expectations as harsh weather and declining affordability turned potential buyers off.

Sixteen-year mortgage industry veteran John Coughlin has joined LRES as its new VP of sales, the asset management and valuations company announced.

FDIC announced the closure of an Oklahoma bank over the weekend, marking the first insured collapse in the Sooner State in more than a year and a half.

Prudential Snyder & Co., Realtors is now operating in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network, the company announced.