Ben Bernanke explained before congress today that the Fed benchmark lending rate will remain at historic lows and hold at around zero.  He warned of a week job market and explained why due to mainly mechanical reasons the Fed is restoring the supplemental financing program draining 200 Billion of excess liquidity from the market after raising the discount rate last week.   

Home sales were unexpectedly weaker

Sales of newly built homes took an unexpected 11.2% drop, falling to a record low.  The annual rate of sales was 309,000 units in January, (Commerce Department). That was a 6.1% drop from last year’s number.   Economists predicted sales would climb.