Taking the Fright Out of Halloween Candy

These days Halloween candy crowds the aisles of store shelves within minutes of the final back-to-school sale. And while it might seem like a good idea to stock up during the early-bird sales, too often "the candy is gone by the time it's actually Halloween, so you have to go for a second batch," says Melinda Johnson, a dietitian and director of the didactic program in dietetics at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Here are some tips from Johnson and the academy to help your family avoid a Halloween candy hangover:

• Stock up at the last minute. As Johnson noted, the longer the candy is in your house, the more likely it is that everyone will sample it before the big day.

• Buy candy you don't like. No matter how much willpower you possess, it can be hard to resist the siren call of the mini Snickers or Butterfinger. You might easily be able to take a pass on PixieSticks, however. Chances are a few of your favorites will show up in your kids' bags and you can treat yourself then.

• When they return from trick-or-treating, have your kids separate their candy into two piles: Like and Don't Like. "Immediately pack up the candy in the 'don't like' pile and give it away," says Johnson. This will not only reduce the amount of sugar in the house, it will remind kids that when they indulge in sweet treats, they should be ones that they really like rather than ones that are just there for mindless snacking.

• Consider a candy buyback. "I know of lots of dentists who buy Halloween candy from their patients," says Johnson. Some dentists offer cash or coupons, toothbrushes or other services, she says. The candy is sent to troops overseas. You can find information about the program, and share it with your family dentist, at http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com.

• Send sweets yourself to the troops. Individuals who would like to ship Halloween candy to military personnel overseas can find information about how to do so at http://www.operationgratitude.com.

September Existing Home Sales Down but Prices Improve

September existing-home sales declined modestly, but inventory continued to tighten and the national median home price recorded its seventh back-to-back monthly increase from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors^®.

Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, fell 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.75 million in September from an upwardly revised 4.83 million in August, but are 11.0 percent above the 4.28 million-unit pace in September 2011.

Lawrence Yun , NAR chief economist, said the market trend is up. "Despite occasional month-to-month setbacks, we're experiencing a genuine recovery," he said. "More people are attempting to buy homes than are able to qualify for mortgages, and recent price increases are not deterring buyer interest. Rather, inventory shortages are limiting sales, notably in parts of the West."

"The shrinkage in housing supply is supporting ongoing price growth, a pattern that could accelerate unless home builders robustly ramp up production," Yun said.

Existing-home sales in the West fell 3.4 percent to an annual pace of 1.13 million in September but are 0.9 percent above a year ago. With continuing inventory shortages in the region, the median price in the West was $246,300, which is 18.4 percent higher than September 2011.

Bernanke Defends Fed Stimulus as China and Brazil Raise Concerns

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Sunday said it was far from clear that the U.S. central bank's highly stimulative monetary policy hurts emerging economies, defending a policy raising concerns in China, Russia and Brazil.

In a blunt call for certain emerging economies to allow their currencies to rise, he also said that foreign exchange intervention encouraged destabilizing inflows of foreign capital, but he did not specify China by name.

"The perceived advantages of undervaluation and the problem of unwanted capital inflows must be understood as a package - you can't have one without the other," Bernanke said in Tokyo.

Bernanke has often defended Fed actions against domestic critics, who argue the policy of keeping interest rates near zero while ramping up asset purchases hurts savers and risks future inflation.  But in the Tokyo speech, Bernanke addressed critics abroad, saying stronger growth in the United States bolsters global prospects as well, countering the likes of Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega who has labeled the Fed's latest stimulus effort "selfish".

Critics say the Fed's unorthodox policies weaken the U.S. dollar and boost the currencies of developing countries, hurting their ability to export.  "It is not at all clear that accommodative policies in advanced economies impose net costs on emerging market economies," Bernanke said at an event sponsored by the Bank of Japan and the International Monetary Fund. While the speech was delivered in private, the Fed provided a text to the media.

Restating a theme that he has addressed in the past, the Fed chief also said that if emerging economies stopped intervening and allowed their currencies to rise, this would help insulate their financial systems from external pressure.  "Under a flexible exchange-rate regime, a fully independent monetary policy, together with fiscal policy as needed, would be available to help counteract any adverse effects of currency appreciation on growth," Bernanke said.

Housing Still Impediment to U.S. Growth

A disappointing rebound in U.S. housing continues to trip up the country's overall economic recovery, two influential Federal Reserve officials said on Friday, highlighting a corner of the economy that still frustrates monetary policymakers.

New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley said the housing market's failure to fully respond to the Fed's easy money policies remains a headwind to U.S. growth, while Elizabeth Duke, a governor at the central bank, highlighted problems associated to the "extraordinary" level of abandoned properties.

A bubble in the U.S. housing market was at the core of the 2007-2009 financial crisis and the lackluster environment that continues to hamper the world economy today.

Though national house prices have edged up this year, Dudley said credit availability remains "impaired" and the overall pace of the broader U.S. economic recovery has been disappointing.  "While there are several headwinds that have been restraining economic growth, a key impediment is that the housing market has failed to respond fully to the significant easing of monetary policy," Dudley said at a residential real estate conference hosted by the New York Fed.

The central bank has kept benchmark interest rates ultra low for nearly four years and has bought more than $2 trillion in large-scale assets to kick-start growth and get Americans back to work. It launched a third round of asset buying last month and signaled it would keep rates near zero for three more years. 

Many economists believe the housing market has finally turned a corner as prices have started to stabilize, while home sales were around two-year highs in August. But the large overhang of foreclosures and the many people who are underwater on their homes are among the hurdles the sector still faces.