Americans head back to shopping in February - 2004-03-12
America's shoppers displayed more energy in February and energized sales at the nation's retailers by 0.6 percent, a hopeful sign for healthy economic growth in the current quarter.

The 0.6 percent advance in sales for February, which matched economists' expectations, represented the largest increase since November. February's gain was led by a 2.7 percent jump in automobile sales, helped by historically low mortgage rates.
Read the full story at Alameda Times-Star

Personal finance: Mortgage insurance dump can pay off - 2004-03-12
Let's see, consume eight glasses of water a day, hold back on carbs, exercise What am I forgetting?

Oh, yeah - get rid of PMI. That resolution can pay off big time, starting right away. And it's easy.

PMI is not a form of bad cholesterol, it's a bad type of mortgage expense - private mortgage insurance.

If you made a down payment of less than 20 percent of your home's price when you got your mortgage, you're probably paying PMI.
Read the full story at Billings Gazette