In a positive announcement, the leading economic indicato, home sales, rose. Existing home sales rose 6.5 percent in December to an annual rate of 4.74 million units, as the median home sales price plunged 15.3 percent to $175,400 from $207,000 a year ago. The decline is the largest year-over-year drop in records going back to 1968.

"Buyers will continue to have an edge over sellers for the foreseeable future," said Lawrence Yun, the The Conference Board's organization's economist.