The Chicago Fed reported that its National Activity Index decreased to –0.39 in January from –0.03 in December. The average price for regular gasoline has risen 15 cents a gallon for more than two weeks now.

Existing U.S. home sales dropped 5.1 percent in January compared to December. The Federal Reserve released transcripts of some of the internal discussions at the Federal Open Market Committee during the critical year 2008. The meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Sydney issued a final communique stating that the goal of the group is to create more than $2 trillion in additional output over the next five years.

The delinquency rate for outstanding mortgages on residential properties decreased to 6.4 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013, the lowest level since the first quarter of 2008. The Consumer Price Index increased 0.1 percent in January compared with December. But during the week ending Feb. 15, initial unemployment claims decreased by 3,000 from the previous week.

Privately owned U.S. housing starts in January dropped 16 percent compared to the revised December estimate. The Fed’s tapering of its bond-buying program will probably continue.

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes posted an unusually large 10-point drop to 46 in February compared with January. But aggregate U.S. consumer debt increased in the fourth quarter of 2013 by $241 billion.

The federal stimulus of 2009 came over the holiday weekend, with the estimated cost revised upward by more than $40 billion. Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 0.6 percent on Monday as the yen appreciated against the dollar. Also, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were both up small amounts on Monday.