Money in a Minute: Headlines From Around the Web

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HOUSING: Home prices drop in three-fourths of metro areas

Buying a home in a big city is getting cheaper. “The median price of a single-family home dropped in 118 metropolitan areas out of 153 cities measured,” Bloomberg reports. “Real estate values are slumping as mounting foreclosures undermine prices.”

SCAMS: Massive hack blows crater in Sony brand

Three weeks ago, Sony announced that hackers attacked its online gaming systems and may have stolen “tens of millions of credit card numbers.” Sony took its games offline – and they’re still offline. “Can Sony recover?” CNN asks. “Sony’s fate is now tied to what happens to the compromised credit card numbers.” Still no word if they were indeed stolen.r

TECH: Microsoft lands Skype, but investors skeptical

The largest software company just bought the largest Internet phone service provider for a whopping $8.5 billion – making Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype the biggest in its history. “Skype has 145 million users on average each month,” MSNBC reports, but it’s also not profitable.

BANKING: Transaction declined? Texting would OK overdrafts

Bank of America is experimenting with banking through text messages. “Customers will have to sign up for the program,” USA Today reports. “If they then try to make a purchase that’s declined at the register, they would immediately get a text from Bank of America asking if they want the purchase to go through.”

CARS: GM expansion’s bottom line: 4,200 jobs

Remember when GM was bankrupt only a couple of years ago? “General Motors will invest $2 billion across 17 auto plants in the United States in a move that’s expected to save or create about 4,000 jobs,” CNN reports.

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