The tepid increase in U.S. jobs in January had economists, who had predicted renewed strength after December’s subpar report, puzzled about the situation. The Congressional Budget Office reported that the federal government ran a budget deficit of $184 billion for the first four months of fiscal year 2014, or $107 billion less than the shortfall during the same period last year.

Fannie Mae reports that for all of 2013, it provided $28.8 billion in multi-family finance, involving about 507,000 multi-family units all together.

The economy created 113,000 jobs in January, a modest rebound from the slightly revised 75,000 in December. In January, asking home prices rose 1.1 percent month over month, the largest monthly gain since June 2013. Wall Street, which has been in a downward mood lately, scored a large up day on Thursday, perhaps in anticipation of the employment numbers on Friday.

The U.S. private sector created 175,000 jobs in January, with the largest number created by small businesses. More domestic banks are easing their lending standards on a variety of business and consumer loans during the last three months. And the Institute for Supply Management said that its non-manufacturing index was up 1 percentage point to 54 percent in January, compared with December.

As the economy has recovered and spending cuts have come into force, the federal budget deficit has fallen sharply during the past few years. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 11 percent in December 2013 compared to the same month a year ago.

Wall Street took another dive on Monday, the largest since last summer. But U.S. construction spending during December was 0.1 percent higher than the revised November figure. Also, builder confidence in the 55+ housing market for the fourth quarter of 2013 was up sharply on an annual basis.

Real GDP increased at an annualized rate of 3.2 percent during the fourth quarter, according to preliminary figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Wall Street took a tumble on Friday, showing investors are wary. And the security breach suffered by retail giant Target late last year has already cost credit unions about $30 million, and the full damage to that particular sector of the financial industry hasn’t been tabulated yet.

The year 2013 saw the strongest annual performance for the housing market since 2006. And according to a report released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, nearly all of the nation’s 363 metropolitan areas are expected to see real economic growth this year.

The nation’s CEOs are somewhat more confident about their businesses’ prospects than they used to be. But the December Architecture Billings Index score contracted to 48.5 from 49.8 in November.