[News in Brief]

△ Home sales jump, jobless claims fall

The economy is improving, with home sales up, jobless claims down and inflation tame. Yet there are concerns the economic rebound won't get much juice from the housing market, which is being fueled by government tax breaks.

Sales of previously occupied homes grew by nearly 7 percent last month, more than expected, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. It was a welcome sign after three months of declines, and a solid kickoff to what's expected to be a strong spring selling season.

The government reported Thursday that new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 456,000, the Labor Department said.

The Obama administration says its policies have helped stop the housing freefall. The government is offering tax credits to homebuyers and trying to stem foreclosures by paying incentives to lenders who rework loans for troubled borrowers.

The government is offering an $8,000 credit for first-time buyers and $6,500 for current homeowners who buy and move into another property. To qualify for these tax incentives, buyers must have a signed contract complete by the end of next week and must complete the sale by the end of June. Nearly 1.8 million households have used the credit at a cost of $12.6 billion, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Scrambling to get in before the April 30 deadline, buyers pushed up March's sales pace to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million, the highest since December. Analysts had forecast sales would increase to 5.28 million.

△ Nearly 4M To Pay Health Insurance Fine

About four 4 million people in the United States could be fined for failing to buy health insurance when the health overhaul law is fully in force in 2016, the Congressional Budget Office forecast on Thursday.

Most individuals must buy health insurance under the landmark legislation passed by Congress last month, or face fines that will be phased in. By 2016, those without coverage may be fined up to 2.5 percent of their income.

The majority of the 21 million expected to lack insurance in 2016 will likely avoid penalties, the CBO, a nonpartisan arbiter of budget issues, said in an analysis of the overhaul, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's domestic agenda.

Of the estimated 4 million who will, some 9 percent will be under the poverty line -- $11,800 in annual income for an individual and $24,000 for a family of four, said the CBO, which analyzed expected compliance rates.

The U.S. population is about 309 million, according to the Census Bureau.

The CBO also forecast the government would collect about $4 billion annually from related penalties between 2017 and 2019.
 
△ Microsoft Posts Profit Jump 35 pct

An improvement in corporate spending on computers helped Microsoft increase its net income 35 percent in the most recent quarter, but investors wanted even stronger signals of a recovery and sent Microsoft shares down sharply in after-hours trading Thursday.

For the January-March fiscal third quarter, Microsoft earned $4.01 billion, or 45 cents per share. That was higher than the 42 cents per share forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. It was an increase from $2.98 billion, or 33 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $14.5 billion, slightly more than the $14.4 billion analysts were expecting. Microsoft had $13.6 billion in revenue in the same quarter a year ago.

Investors looking at the optimistic reports issued recently from Intel Corp., IBM Corp. and other big technology companies may have wanted more from Microsoft, said Edward Jones analyst Andy Miedler. He noted that revenue from the group that makes server software crept up just 2 percent.

The division responsible for Windows increased revenue 28 percent to $4.4 billion. Microsoft's general manager of investor relations, Bill Koefoed, said during a conference call that sales of copies of Windows for consumers rose 35 percent. Business licenses for Windows, which are more profitable for Microsoft, grew 15 percent.