WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- The May housing scorecard said U.S. mortgage servicers showed progress in implementing the Making Home Affordable program, Obama administration officials said.

"Data continue to show important progress across many key indicators, as the annual home price increase is the highest since the housing bubble burst in mid-2006 and purchases of new and existing homes remain strong," the Treasury Department said in a release, cautioning "a full housing recovery will take more time."

"In the first quarter of 2013, homeowners' equity grew by more than $815 billion, reaching its highest level since the first quarter of 2008," Housing and Urban Development Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs Kurt Usowski said. "Despite the positive news, we have important work ahead since there are so many families and individuals still 'underwater' with mortgage balances higher than their home's value."

Since inception of the Making Home Affordable Program, the Treasury Department has required participating servicers to take specific actions to improve their processes through program reviews.

"We have kept the pressure on the mortgage industry to step up its efforts, which has helped millions of families access relief in a historic housing crisis," said Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad. "Making Home Affordable provides standards and accountability for the mortgage industry that will now help additional homeowners avoid foreclosure through 2015."

CHICAGO, June 6 (UPI) -- The housing market recovery has done more than add wealth to U.S. homeowners, it has also added jobs, online employment firm CareerBuilder said Thursday.

NEW YORK, May 23 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes complied with a timeless adage Thursday: What goes up must come down.

After setting a series of record closing highs in a rally that began in the first of the year, when the federal government side stepped the fiscal cliff, markets dropped for the second consecutive session Thursday.

But investors put the brakes on midday losses, bringing stocks up from, dismal to just disappointing.

The sell off some believe is overdue was prompted by comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said that the Fed might soon "step down in our pace of purchase(s)."

Bernanke was referring to $85 billion in treasuries and mortgage-backed securities the central bank buys each month to stimulate a slow recovery.

The turnaround began Wednesday afternoon in U.S. markets and spread to Japan, where the Nikkei 225 index lost 6.8 percent, dropping 1,062.96 points to 14,564.30.

U.S. indexes looked ready to follow suit, but the Labor Department said first-time jobless claims for the week were fewer than expected. The Commerce Department said new home sales rose in April. And the Conference Board said leading indicators in Germany rose in March for the fourth consecutive month.

By close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 12.67 points, 0.08 percent, to 15,294.50. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 lost 4.84 points or 0.29 percent to 1,650.51 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 3.88 points or 0.11 percent to 3,459.42.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,289 issues advanced while 1,801 declined on total volume of 3.9 billion shares traded.

In Britain, the FTSE 100 dropped 2.1 percent, 143.48 points, to 6,696.79. Germany's DAX 30 index lost 2.1 percent, 161.01 points, to 8,351.98.

The 10-year treasury note was yielding 2.019 percent.

Crude oil added 10 cents to hit $94.35 a barrel. Gold dropped $1.90 to $1,389.90 per troy ounce.

On currency markets, the euro fell to $1.2932 compared to Wednesday's $1.2934. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 101.96 yen from 102.02 yen.

LOS ANGELES, May 23 (UPI) -- Non-farm jobs in Los Angeles rose by 9,700 from April 2012 to April 2013, the city's economic development corporation said.

The fastest-growing job sector for the city is the entertainment industry, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

The number of jobs slipped slightly from March to April, but that reflected seasonal trends, the Times said.

From April 2012 to April 2013, the number of jobs in the city rose 2 percent to 3.9 million.

"All indicators in the first part of 2013 suggest that we're seeing improvement relative to where things were during the recession," said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

Kleinhenz said gains in the number of television and film production jobs were boosting the local job market.

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Postal Service said it lost $1.9 billion in its second fiscal quarter, which could push it to seek higher prices for stamps.

The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the USPS has been pushing Congress without success to allow it to adopt more flexibility in its financial obligations to help it cut costs.

"To return the Postal Service to solvency requires a comprehensive approach," said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

"The major elements of the plan must be pursued and executed within a short window of opportunity to avoid unsustainable losses and potentially becoming a long-term burden to the American taxpayer," he said in a statement.

The Postal Service has been struggling as the popularity of sending letters by mail has been undermined by email and other options.

The Postal Service now projects that its operating cash on hand will dwindle down to a three-day supply by October, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"If legislation doesn't pass, we have issues to face in terms of cash flow. Everything has to be on the table," Donahoe said.

NEW YORK, May 4 (UPI) -- A federal judge in New York approved a $2.43 billion settlement to end claims Bank of America misled shareholders when it purchased Merrill Lynch & Co.

Bank of America closed on the purchase of Merrill Lynch in January 2009, having announced it had reached a deal to buy the financial giant in September 2008, one day before Lehman Brothers announced it was bankrupt.

Shareholders approved of the deal but later sued, claiming the bank's executives misled them by not revealing the extent of financial problems at Merrill Lynch. At the time, Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis called the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, "the deal of a lifetime."

The company's market value did not reflect that sentiment. BofA shares lost more than half their value from the time the agreement to buy Merrill Lynch was announced to the time it was finalized, cutting BofA's value by $70 billion.

Similarly, the Merrill Lynch deal was valued at $50 billion in September, when announced. By the time the deal closed, it was worth about $19 billio.

BofA did not admit any wrongdoing, but said it settled the matter to avoid prolonged litigation, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel said the settlement was "fair, reasonable and adequate," and Max Berger, a lawyer for the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the settlement was "historic."

It is the largest settlement for shareholders to come out of the 2008 financial crisis, the Journal said.

BofA was struggling on other fronts, as well. Primarily, it was the height of the 2008 financial crisis that originated in the United States and became so severe that a nearly global economic downturn ensued.

Very few financial firms, if any, were unscathed by the debacle.

Secondly, Bank of America purchased West Coast mortgage lender Countrywide Financial earlier in 2008.

With the financial crisis sparked by a downturn in the subprime mortgage market, and with California being one of the regions most affected by the market collapse, the purchase of Countrywide could hardly have been timed more poorly.