In the currency market, the dollar firmed against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.5696 vs. $1.5763 on Friday.

Bank of America Boosts China Bank Stake; Home Prices Continue to Fall; Record Profit and Resignation for Vodafone; Standard Pacific Stock Shoots Up; Landis&Gyr Lands 7 Million “Smart Meter” Contract; S. Africa Grows a Slow 2.1% in 1Q; Gold Futures Fall $18.

A US government home-price index has posted the sharpest decline in its 17-year history – and analysts say things won’t get better until at least 2009.

Home prices fell 3.1% in the first quarter compared with last year, according to The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. This from AP:

Declines in the government index, which focuses on less expensive properties and includes fewer houses bought with risky home loans that have gone sour over the past year, show the depth of the housing market’s troubles.

In the currency market, the dollar rose against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.5566 vs. $1.5642 on Monday.

Time was, “As General Motors goes, so goes the nation.” What would be the suitable substitute for GM in post-industrial, post-modern, post-Bretton Woods America? Wal-Mart? Or maybe Starbucks?