Scott Horsley

Sales of existing homes slumped in January.

Sales dropped more than 8 percent from December and were down more than 4 percent from January of last year.

The average sales price last month was just under $397,000.

That's up less than 1 percent from a year ago.

The realtors say falling interest rates have made home buying a little more affordable over the last year.

McDonald's stock opened higher after the fast food chain reported better than expected sales and profits for the most recent quarter.

Sales in the U.S.

jumped nearly 7 percent, thanks in part to discounts aimed at cost-conscious diners and a Christmas-themed Grinch meal.

New applications for unemployment benefits were slightly lower last week.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

Half a dozen Republican House members joined nearly all Democrats in voting to suspend President Trump's emergency declaration that provides the foundation for double-digit tariffs on goods from Canada.

The vote has little practical effect since it was short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a likely presidential veto.

But it does signal some GOP resistance to Trump's costly import taxes, as well as the limits of House Speaker Mike Johnson's ability to head off such votes.

A more serious threat to Trump's tariffs could come from the Supreme Court, which is weighing a challenge to Trump's taxes on imports from around the world.

under a statute that never uses the word tariff.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

The Labor Department says U.S.

employers added 130,000 jobs in January after gains of less than 50,000 in each of the two previous months.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.3 percent.

Health care and construction saw some of the biggest job gains in January, while transportation and the federal government continued to lose jobs.