Consumer Confidence Climbs; Home Prices Record Plunge; Troubled Banks on the Rise; Oil Falls 7%; Slim’s Bank Buys Citi Stock; D.R. Horton Shares Vault

• The Conference Board said yesterday (Tuesday) that its Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 44.9, up from a revised 38.8 in October. Last month’s reading was the lowest since the research group started tracking the index in 1967.

• Home prices plunged in the third quarter, according to the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price index, which posted a 16.6% drop for the three-month period. That outpaces the second quarter’s record 15.1% decline.

• The number of problem U.S. banks and thrifts soared to 171 in the third quarter, up from 117 at the end of the June, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).  The industry-funded reserve to back deposits was $34.6 billion as of September 30, 23.5% smaller than in the previous quarter. Bank industry income fell 94% from the previous year to $1.7 billion in the third quarter.

• Oil prices again fell yesterday (Tuesday), sliding almost 7% to settle at $50.77 a barrel. “The focus in the oil markets is again on softening demand in the wake of a weak GDP,” Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading, told Reuters.

• Grupo Financiero Inbursa SA, a bank controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, scooped 26 million Mexico-traded shares of Citigroup Inc. (C) for about $134 million, Bloomberg reported. The buy amounts to less than 1% of Citigroup’s stock.

• Shares of homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI) rocketed 38% yesterday (Tuesday) despite posting a fourth-quarter loss of $799.9 million, or $2.53 per share. Analysts cheered the company’s existing cash flow, “likely indicating aggressive pricing strategy for” 2009, a Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) report said.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Wednesday, November 26th, 2008