Cozy and chic in North End condo

This charming brick-and-beam condo sits on a quiet street at the edge of the North End just two blocks from the waterfront.

The two-bedroom unit at 108 Fulton St., part of a five-unit building, had a major makeover in 2008 including a renovated kitchen and two redone bathrooms. The current owners have added halogen track lighting and overhead fans in most rooms.

The brick, former warehouse building built in 1900 was converted to condos in 1979, keeping its original industrial wood front door. Carpeted hardwood stairs lead up to the units.

Unit 2 opens into a hallway with a clothes closet and to the right sits a large open kitchen/dining/living area with wood-beam ceilings, brick walls and oak floors.

The halogen-lit kitchen was completely redone six years ago with cherrywood cabinets, many with glass fronts, a stainless-steel double sink, granite countertops with black tile backsplash, and an island with a breakfast bar that seats three. High-end stainless steel appliances include a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Thermador gas stove and an Asko dishwasher.

The dining/living area has more halogen track lighting and an overhead fan along with two windows.

Behind the dining room is a small bedroom, currently used as a home office, that has a window but no closet.

Off the kitchen sits a full ceramic-tile bath with a pedestal sink and a tiled walk-in shower with a glass door and marble bench. A closet in this room holds a stacked Kenmore washer and dryer.

At the end of a long hallway is a good-sized master bedroom suite. The bedroom has two windows, hardwood floors, halogen lighting and a ceiling fan. There's an en-suite bathroom with white Carrara marble floors and walls around a whirlpool tub. There's also two pedestal sinks. Adjacent is a large walk-in closet with built-in wardrobe storage.

There's additional storage in a private closet in the basement.

The $252 monthly condo fee includes gas as well as heating from a central system fed through baseboards.

There's no on-site parking, and the current owner parks in a garage next door for $375 a month. But that space is not transferable to a new owner.

Home Showcase

• Address: 108 Fulton St., No. 2, North End
• Bedrooms: Two
• Bathrooms: Two full
• List price: $975,000
• Square feet: 1,236
• Price per square foot: $789
• Annual taxes: $9,758
• Monthly condo fee: $252 (includes heat, gas)
• Location: Two blocks from restaurants and retail shops along Hanover Street, the North End's main retail district, and two blocks in the other direction to offerings on the 
waterfront's Atlantic Avenue.
• Built in: 1900; converted to condos 1979; major updates 2008
• Broker: Bradford Rowell of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage at 617-905-4376

Pros:

• Stylish 2008 kitchen makeover with island, high-end appliances
• Master bedroom suite with new marble bathroom and walk-in closet
• Wood-beam ceilings, brick walls, and refinished hardwood floors throughout
• Current owners added halogen track lighting and overhead fans in most rooms

Cons:

• Second bedroom small with no closet
• No central air conditioning
• No on-site parking

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Car parts plant blast in China kills 65, hurts 100

BEIJING — At least 65 people were killed Saturday by an explosion at an eastern Chinese automotive parts factory that supplies General Motors, state media reported.

The blast at the factory in the city of Kunshan in Jiangsu province also left more than 100 people injured, with many suffering severe burns, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Kunshan is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southeast of Beijing.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage shot by residents of large plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the plant. News websites posted photos showing survivors or victims being lifted onto the back of large trucks, their bodies black presumably from burns or being covered in soot.

Some survivors were seen sitting on wooden cargo platforms on the road outside the factory, their clothes apparently burned off and skin exposed or being carried into ambulances.

The factory is operated by the Zhongrong Metal Products Company, a Taiwanese enterprise that according to its website was set up in 1998 and has a registered capital of $8.8 million. Its core business is electroplating aluminum alloy wheel hubs, the website says, while it supplies GM and other companies.

There were more than 200 workers at the site when the blast occurred, Xinhua cited the city government as saying. More than 120 people who were injured have been sent to hospitals in Kunshan and the nearby city of Suzhou.

A preliminary investigation has shown that the blast was likely a dust explosion, Xinhua said. Such an explosion is the fast combustion of particles suspended in air in an enclosed space. The particles could include dust or powdered metals such as aluminum. They would have to come into contact with a spark, such as fire, an overheated surface, or electrical discharge from machinery.

Calls to the city's government and police rang unanswered. A woman who answered the main phone line at the Zhongrong metal company refused to give any information and or the contact numbers of company staffers handling the case.

___

Associated Press researcher Henry Hou contributed to this report.

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Asia stocks dip on Dow drop, China data cuts loss

HONG KONG — Most Asian stock markets dipped on Friday following a big sell-off on Wall Street but losses were limited by optimistic reports on China's economy.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.3 percent to 15,572.38 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.5 percent to 24,623.90. South Korea's Kospi was less than 0.1 percent lower at 2,074.01. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.4 percent to 5,556.40. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent to 2,203.08.

US SELL-OFF: Asian stocks are LOWER after U.S. markets had their worst day in months. Factors include weak corporate earnings from big companies such as Exxon Mobil as well as the approaching end of stimulus from the Federal Reserve. Economic sanctions on Russia that have increased tensions with the West are also playing a role. And there's also the general worry by investors that stocks are overpriced.

CHINA'S FACTORIES: Upbeat data on Chinese manufacturing helped put a floor under Asian stocks. Monthly surveys of manufacturing in China signaled that the world's second biggest economy perked up further in July thanks to recent mini-stimulus measures. An official purchasing managers' index rose to its highest in 27 months while a similar factory report by HSBC showed the strongest rate of improvement in a year and a half.

ECONOMIES IN FOCUS: Investors will get more clues about the state of the global economy with the release of a raft of economic reports later in the day, starting with manufacturing data for major eurozone economies. After that, reports are expected on U.S. employment, consumer spending and sentiment, construction spending and manufacturing. The forecast for the much scrutinized employment report is that U.S. employers added 225,000 jobs in July and that the unemployment rate remained at 6.1 percent, the lowest since 2008. In June, the economy added 288,000 jobs.

WALL STREET: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.9 percent to 16,563.30, its worst one-day drop since February. The S&P 500 dropped 2 percent to 1,930.67, its biggest loss since April. The Nasdaq composite fell 2.1 percent to 4,369.77.

LOW ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery slipped 13 cents to $98.04 a barrel in electronic trading in New York. The contract on Thursday fell $2.10 to close at $98.17, its lowest level since March 17. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, edged 5 cents lower to $105.96 in London.

CURRENCIES: The euro drifted down to $1.3388 from $1.3391 late Thursday. The dollar rose to 102.92 yen from 102.78 yen.

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SouthField offers unCommons value

The newest apartment complex in SouthField has just opened and almost half the units are already leased.

The 72-unit Commons on the Green at the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station offers the amenities you'd find in a new city complex with rents at half the price of Boston and Cambridge.

The Commons, along with its companion 226-unit building that opened in 2012, features such amenities as a saltwater swimming pool with a sundeck, a large fitness center, a Wi-Fi cafe and clubroom and a game room. The Commons has a large roof deck with a grilling area as well as a community room with a catering kitchen, outdoor patio, grills and a fire pit.

Studios at the Commons start at $1,370 a month, one-bedrooms at $1,645, two-bedrooms at $2,200 and there's even some three-level townhouses with private entrances and attached two-car garages for $2,950 a month.

And it's one-third of a mile from the South Weymouth MBTA commuter rail station, a 25-minute trip to South Station.

"We're getting a lot of city renters as well empty nesters­ from the South Shore who've sold their homes," said Commons leasing manager John O'Donnell. "It's so much cheaper to live out here, and many of our residents commute into Boston. It's an easy train ride."

The Commons, built by Braintree's John M. Corcoran & Co., is part of the smart-growth plan of clustered townhouse and single-­family cottages as well as apartments. A 55-plus community with a nursing facility is under construction. The mix of uses will also include commercial and retail.

With the state set to pass a bill streamlining the building approval process and shifting water treatment responsibilities to SouthField's main developer Starwood Land Ventures, most expect a surge of residential development. About 500 people are living in SouthField now, with an expected total of 2,855 residences on the 1,400-acre site, 70 percent of which will remain open space.

We took a look at model Unit 117, a 726-square-foot one-bedroom renting for $1,695 a month. The first-floor unit has a private entrance with its own grassy patio out front — great for pet owners.

The interior features an open living/dining/kitchen area with dark-stained bamboo floors that has lots of tall windows and 11-foot ceilings.

The kitchen has granite counters and a bi-level island, wood cabinets and stainless-steel GE appli­ances. This, and all units, have a closet with a full-size washer and dryer.

The carpeted bedroom has tall windows and a glass door out to the front patio. There's a walk-in closet with built-in storage and a ceramic-­floored bath with a white quartz-topped vanity and a one-piece deep soaking tub and shower.

Along the first floor of the Commons is retail space, which fronts on a planned village green to be sur­rounded by a cluster of shops.

"There are also plans for a recreation center with playing fields and an eco-park," said property manager Erica Stockton. "It's about creating a community."

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As US economy accelerates, Fed remains cautious

WASHINGTON — After a grim start to 2014, the U.S. economy has rebounded with vigor and should show renewed strength into next year.

That was the general view of analysts Wednesday after the government estimated that the economy grew at a fast 4 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter. Consumers, businesses and governments combined to fuel the expansion. The government also said growth was more robust last year than previously estimated.

Whether the healthier expansion will lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than expected is unclear. The Fed offered a mixed message on the economy Wednesday: Growth is strengthening, and the unemployment rate is steadily falling. Yet by some measures, it suggested, the job market remains subpar.

A statement the Fed issued after a two-day policy meeting signaled that it wants to see further improvement before it starts raising its key short-term interest rate. It offered no clearer hint of when it will raise that rate.

Instead, the Fed reiterated its plan to keep short-term rates low "for a considerable time" after ends its monthly bond purchases. The Fed said it will slow the pace of its purchases by another $10 billion to $25 billion a month. The purchases, which have been intended to keep long-term borrowing rates low, are set to end in October. Most economists think a rate increase is about a year away.

The economy sprang back to life last quarter after a dismal winter in which it shrank at a sharp 2.1 percent annual rate. The government upgraded that decline from a previous estimate of a 2.9 percent drop. But it was still the biggest contraction since early 2009 in the depths of the Great Recession.

Last quarter's bounce-back reinforced analysts' view that the economy's momentum is extending into the second half of the year, when they forecast annual growth of around 3 percent.

The government also updated its estimates of growth leading into this year. They show the economy expanded in the second half of 2013 at the fastest pace in a decade and more than previously estimated. The revised data also show that the economy grew faster in 2013 than previously estimated, though more slowly in 2011 and 2012 than earlier thought.

The second quarter's growth in the gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — was the fastest since a 4.5 percent increase in July-September quarter of 2013.

Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said that given last quarter's rebound, he's boosting his estimate for growth this year to 2 percent, up from a previous 1.7 percent forecast. Ashworth said the economy's growth also supported his view that the Fed will be inclined to start raising rates early next year.

Ashworth is among a group of economists who think growing strength in the job market and the economy will prod the Fed to move faster to raise rates to make sure inflation doesn't get out of hand. Other economists have been predicting that the Fed would wait until mid-2015 to start raising rates.

The Fed revised the wording of its previous statement to note that while the unemployment rate has dropped steadily, the job market is still struggling in other ways. It didn't specify what it meant. But Chair Janet Yellen expressed concern to Congress this month about stagnant wage growth, many part-time workers who can't find full-time jobs and the proportion of the unemployed who have been out of work for more than six months.

The GDP report showed that one measure of inflation rose 2 percent last quarter, up from a 1.3 percent rise in the first quarter. The Fed's inflation target is 2 percent, and for two years the GDP measure of inflation has been running below that level. Low inflation has given the Fed leeway to focus on boosting growth to fight high unemployment.

In its statement, the Fed noted that inflation had risen closer to its 2 percent target. The statement said concerns that inflation would run persistently below the Fed's 2 percent target had "diminished somewhat." But it expressed no worries about the slight acceleration in prices.

The economy's sudden contraction in the first quarter coincided with a severe winter that disrupted activity across industries and kept consumers away from shopping malls and auto dealerships. Consumer spending slowed to an annual growth rate of 1.2 percent, the weakest in nearly three years.

Last quarter, consumer spending accelerated to a growth rate of 2.5 percent. Spending on durable goods such as autos surged at a 14 percent annual rate, the biggest quarterly gain since 2009. Analysts said that was an encouraging sign of consumers' growing willingness to buy high-cost items like cars.

"Better job growth, a rising stock market, falling gasoline prices — all those things are starting to resonate on Main Street," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.

Hoffman suggested that five straight months of job gains above 200,000 were buoying both consumer and business confidence. He predicted that the July jobs report, to be released Friday, would show job growth of around 225,000. Hoffman foresees growth of around 3 percent over the next year.

The government's revised estimates going back to 2011 show the economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.5 percent in last year's third quarter, up from a previous 4.1 percent estimate. The growth rate was 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, up from an earlier 2.6 percent estimate.

For 2013 as a whole, the government said the economy grew 2.2 percent, up from its earlier 1.9 percent estimate.

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Asian markets drift after US Fed stays course

MUMBAI, India — Asian stock markets were uninspired by an upbeat report on the U.S. economy, with most drifting lower Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would make further cuts to its monetary stimulus as expected.

KEEPING SCORE: The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 0.1 percent to 24,695.71 while Tokyo's Nikkei was up 0.4 percent to 15,711.94. South Korea's Kospi shed 0.3 percent to 2,076.14 and China's Shanghai Composite was nearly flat at 2,283.72. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.2 percent to 5,632.20 and India's Sensex was flat at 25,076.01.

SORRY SAMSUNG: Shares of South Korean consumer electronics kingpin Samsung dived 4 percent after it reported a bigger-than-expected fall in second quarter profit on slowing smartphone sales. Cheaper upstarts such as China's Huawei are eroding its market share in developing nations and Samsung was uncertain if smartphone earnings would improve this quarter. April-June quarter net profit dropped 20 percent to 6.3 trillion won ($6.1 billion).

FED FOCUS: Federal Reserve policymakers said the central bank would make further cuts to its monthly bond purchases, a program that is intended to keep long-term interest rates low and encourage borrowing and spending. At the current pace of cutbacks, the Fed's bond purchases will end in October.

U.S. GROWTH: The U.S. economy expanded by a better-than-expected 4 percent in the second quarter after a severe winter hit the first quarter's growth. Even so, it was a robust outcome for the world's largest economy.

ANALYST TAKE: Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, said the strong U.S. growth report failed to inspire enthusiasm in the stock market because higher growth and the prospect of inflation will force the Fed to raise interest rates sooner rather than later. "Good news is getting to be bad news again," Ablin said. "The GDP report is obviously good news, so why are stocks off? Because people are wondering when the party will come to an end."

BUSY WEEK: It's a busy week for economic news. Besides the Federal Reserve meeting and U.S. growth numbers, there's a report on China's manufacturing industry out Thursday, and the U.S. Labor Department releases its monthly jobs report on Friday.

OIL, CURRENCIES: Benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery dropped 77 cents to $99.57 a barrel. The euro strengthened to $1.3398 from $1.3995 late Wednesday. The dollar slipped to 102.76 yen from 102.86 yen.

WALL STREET: The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.2 percent to close at 16,880.36. The Standard & Poor's 500 ended with a tiny gain of 0.01 percent at 1,970.07.

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US economy likely showed big rebound last quarter

WASHINGTON — After a dismal start to the year reflecting a harsh winter, the U.S. economy showed signs of rebounding in the spring, with many forecasters expecting growth to be even stronger in the second half of the year.

The government on Wednesday will provide its first estimate of how much the gross domestic product — the economy's total output of goods and services — grew in the April-June quarter. The consensus forecast is that the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.9 percent, according to a survey of economists by data firm FactSet.

That would mark a dramatic rebound from the January-March period, when the economy shrank at an annual rate of 2.9 percent. It was the biggest contraction since the depths of the recession five years ago.

Normally, such a plunge in economic activity would arouse fears about a recession. But analysts have largely dismissed this year's stumble as the result of a set of adverse developments that should be temporary.

The biggest culprit: An unusually severe winter, which depressed consumer spending by keeping shoppers away from malls and auto showrooms and disrupted other activities such as factory production.

With warmer weather, consumer spending is expected to recover. The economy should also get a boost from stronger residential activity, less of a cutback in business stockpiling and a rebound in business capital spending on new equipment.

"The economy is bouncing back from a terrible first quarter," said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Tufts University.

Still, with the rocky start to the year, analysts have marked down expectations for all of 2014. A recent survey of top forecasters with the National Association for Business Economics estimated growth for all of 2014 at a sluggish 1.6 percent, even slower than last year's 1.9 percent growth.

But many analysts think the economy is on the verge of an acceleration after subpar annual growth rates of around 2 percent through the first five years of recovery from the Great Recession, which officially ended in June 2009.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said he thinks growth could accelerate to above 4 percent in 2015. He said he expects support from continued solid gains in hiring, which should translate into strength in consumer spending. Employers have added at least 200,000 jobs for five straight months — the best such stretch since the late 1990s tech boom.

"I think we are finally going to start seeing more wage growth and that should kick the economy into high gear by late 2015," Zandi said.

When the Federal Reserve ends a two-day meeting Wednesday, analysts think it will keep a key short-term rate at a record low near zero for the rest of this year and into 2015. The first rate increase is expected by mid-2015, after the economy and job market strengthen further.

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Critics hit $1B BCEC expansion signed by gov

Critics are warning that a newly signed $1 billion bill to expand the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center could drag the Hub into a pricing war with other cities for a shrinking industry's business.

"You now have so many more convention square feet in the country that all of these convention centers are desperate to get the business," said Gregory Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute.

Albany, N.Y., and Fort Worth, Texas, are among the cities that are expanding their convention centers, with others, including Milwaukee, eyeing their own projects. Sullivan said that will lead to lower prices for convention center space as cities undercut each other.

"It's a race to the bottom on prices," he said.

When he signed the bill yesterday, Gov. Deval Patrick said the expansion will let the convention center host larger events.

"We've been turning away opportunity because we just don't have a facility for the kinds of large meetings and conventions that are now being organized," Patrick said.

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Study: 35 percent in US facing debt collectors

WASHINGTON — More than 35 percent of Americans have debts and unpaid bills that have been reported to collection agencies, according to a study released Tuesday by the Urban Institute.

These consumers fall behind on credit cards or hospital bills. Their mortgages, auto loans or student debt pile up, unpaid. Even past-due gym membership fees or cellphone contracts can end up with a collection agency, potentially hurting credit scores and job prospects, said Caroline Ratcliffe, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank.

"Roughly, every third person you pass on the street is going to have debt in collections," Ratcliffe said. "It can tip employers' hiring decisions, or whether or not you get that apartment."

The study found that 35.1 percent of people with credit records had been reported to collections for debt that averaged $5,178, based on September 2013 records. The study points to a disturbing trend: The share of Americans in collections has remained relatively constant, even as the country as a whole has whittled down the size of its credit card debt since the official end of the Great Recession in the middle of 2009.

As a share of people's income, credit card debt has reached its lowest level in more than a decade, according to the American Bankers Association. People increasingly pay off balances each month. Just 2.44 percent of card accounts are overdue by 30 days or more, versus the 15-year average of 3.82 percent.

Yet roughly the same percentage of people are still getting reported for unpaid bills, according to the Urban Institute study performed in conjunction with researchers from the Consumer Credit Research Institute. Their figures nearly match the 36.5 percent of people in collections reported by a 2004 Federal Reserve analysis.

All of this has reshaped the economy. The collections industry employs 140,000 workers who recover $50 billion each year, according to a separate study published this year by the Fed's Philadelphia bank branch.

The delinquent debt is overwhelmingly concentrated in Southern and Western states. Texas cities have a large share of their populations being reported to collection agencies: Dallas (44.3 percent); El Paso (44.4 percent), Houston (43.7 percent), McAllen (51.7 percent) and San Antonio (44.5 percent).

Almost half of Las Vegas residents— many of whom bore the brunt of the housing bust that sparked the recession— have debt in collections. Other Southern cities have a disproportionate number of their people facing debt collectors, including Orlando and Jacksonville, Florida; Memphis, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; and Jackson, Mississippi.

Other cities have populations that have largely managed to repay their bills on time. Just 20.1 percent of Minneapolis residents have debts in collection. Boston, Honolulu and San Jose, California, are similarly low.

Only about 20 percent of Americans with credit records have any debt at all. Yet high debt levels don't always lead to more delinquencies, since the debt largely comes from mortgages.

An average San Jose resident has $97,150 in total debt, with 84 percent of it tied to a mortgage. But because incomes and real estate values are higher in the technology hub, those residents are less likely to be delinquent.

By contrast, the average person in the Texas city of McAllen has only $23,546 in debt, yet more than half of the population has debt in collections, more than anywhere else in the United States.

The Urban Institute's Ratcliffe said that stagnant incomes are key to why some parts of the country are struggling to repay their debt.

Wages have barely kept up with inflation during the five-year recovery, according to Labor Department figures. And a separate measure by Wells Fargo found that after-tax income fell for the bottom 20 percent of earners during the same period.

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Asia stocks rise modestly ahead of US, China data

SEOUL, South Korea — Asian stock markets posted modest gains Tuesday as investors treaded cautiously ahead of U.S. and Chinese economic reports later this week.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.5 percent to 15,604.80 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.6 percent to 2,061.95. Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up 0.2 percent to 24,483.85 while China's benchmark Shanghai Composite gained 0.1 percent to 2,180.52. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.1 percent to 5,570.90. Markets in India, Indonesia and Malaysia were closed for holidays.

EARNINGS: Companies are in the middle of corporate earnings season. Later Tuesday, Japanese carmaker Honda will report its quarterly financial results after the market close. Asian tech heavyweights Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Corp. will release their quarterly financial results on Thursday.

ANALYST TAKE: William Leys, sales trader at CMC Markets, said markets were calm before the data storm, forecasting that trading volume would become heavier toward the end of this week. "Caution is the pre-eminent theme across global markets at the moment, as investors anticipate a spate of key economic data due later in the week, amid a backdrop of persistent geopolitical concerns," Leys said in a commentary. "With a variety of weighty announcements looming, the stage is set for an action packed end to the week."

DATA RUSH: On Wednesday, the U.S. will release gross domestic product figures for the April-June quarter. The world's largest economy is expected to pick up after severe cold in the winter dampened growth the previous quarter. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to issue a statement after wrapping up a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. On Thursday, a report on China's manufacturing industry will give investors an update on the health of the world's factory floor. On Friday, the U.S. will release its monthly jobs data. Analysts estimate that the U.S. labor market added between 235,000 and 255,000 jobs in July.

RUSSIA SANCTIONS: Tensions between Russia and the West may resurface as the West is expected to slap another round of sanctions against Russia. On Monday, the White House said the United States and European Union plan to impose new sanctions against Russia this week, including penalties targeting key parts of the Russian economy. The EU had previously refrained from stepping up sanctions in the wake of the shooting down of a Malaysian jetliner over a rebel-controlled region of Ukraine, killing 298 people.

DOLLAR DEALS: There was upbeat and downbeat news from the U.S. trading day but it didn't get much traction in Asian markets. Discount store chain Dollar Tree said it was buying rival chain Family dollar and real estate listing service Zillow announced a deal to takeover Trulia, also in the property listing business. The National Association of Realtors said its index of U.S. pending home sales, a barometer of future purchases, slipped 1.1 percent to 102.7 in June. The contraction was bigger than forecast and indicated a cooling of the real estate market this summer.

CURRENCIES, OIL: The euro retreated slightly to $1.3434 from the previous session's $1.3439. The dollar drifted higher to 101.94 yen from 101.84 yen. The price of oil dipped, with benchmark U.S. crude for September delivery down 34 cents to $101.33 a barrel.

WALL STREET: U.S. stocks were little changed on Monday with the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.1 percent to 16,982.59 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index closing at 1,978.91, nearly unmoved. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.1 percent to finish at 4,444.91.

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Americans back net neutrality

Read through the public comments on the FCC's proposed rules on net neutrality and you might have to do a double-take. You might come to the conclusion that Americans care about freedom of speech on the Internet. You might even begin to believe that this country is not nearly as complacent as voting records would have us believe.

"A pay-to-play Internet worries me because new, innovative services that can't afford expensive fees for better service will be less likely to succeed," wrote Kerrin McTernan of North Attleboro in a public comment to the FCC. "The Internet is important to me because, as a young American, I want to know that the future internet will provide ways for people of all different backgrounds to share their innovation, their creativity, and their knowledge."

McTernan is among more than a million people who submitted public comments to the FCC as of Friday about proposed net neutrality regulations. It's the biggest response that the commission has ever received for a policy proposal.

At issue is whether all data should be treated equally by Internet service providers. Net neutrality would ensure that telecom companies can't impose tiered service models that deliver some data fast and free, and other data expensive and slow. A recent appeals court decision threw out the law on net neutrality and kicked the matter back to the FCC, setting up the current state of limbo.

Companies such as Comcast and Verizon claim they don't seek to block or slow content, they just want to provide super-fast service for some data.

But Americans aren't buying it. It seems that the general public can see through a clever marketing trick, such as T-Mobile's recent decision to make music streaming data completely free. Instead of treating all music services equally, T-Mobile decided to make the most popular services free for subscribers.

This is quite a sly move: to pitch a non-neutral Net as a consumer benefit. But I couldn't find one comment on the FCC's website supporting a non-neutral Net. While T-Mobile's new gimmick might save some money for subscribers in the short term, it also prevents any new music streaming service from entering the market to provide more competition. And that's not good for consumers at all.

Just ask Jason Michalak of Charlestown. "I believe a free and open internet are essential to keeping innovation alive in our technology economy," he wrote to the FCC.

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Amazon enters smartphone fray

Amazon Fire Phone (AT&T, Amazon.com, starting at $199.99 with contract)

Amazon's first smartphone is packed with exclusive features. The Fire Phone includes Amazon's live customer service Mayday button, unlimited cloud storage of photos, sensors that respond to how you hold and look at the phone, and a new Firefly app that recognizes products and shows you how to buy them. The phone also includes a full year of Amazon Prime for free.

The good: You may have read some poor reviews of this device, but that's not the case here. At least some of those reviews were based on old software that has since been updated. The result is a well-performing device with a form factor that strikes a nice balance between the narrow iPhone and larger Android and Windows phones.

The bad: If you're an Android fan reliant on Google Now's digital assistant features, you won't find that here. Fire Phone could also improve in the low-light photography department.

The bottom line: It's neither an Android nor an iPhone. It's Fire. And in that way, Amazon has hit one out of the park. This phone should particularly appeal to an older set of consumers, first-time smartphone users who could benefit from the live customer service feature, lack of bloatware and a clear usage tutorial that begins upon activation.

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Startup’s videos find suitable employees

A few years ago, when Rob Hunter owned ice cream stores and one of his greatest challenges was finding good employees, he had an epiphany one day when a girl whose only experience was babysitting and playing soccer dropped off a resume replete with spelling and grammatical errors.

"I would not have hired her based on her resume, but she had a wonderful personality and turned out to be the best employee I ever had," Hunter said. "I've hired 300 people in all and interviewed 600 to 700. And each time, I know pretty much in the first 30 seconds whether they're going to be a good fit."

What if, he thought, employers in retail — where an engaging and professional demeanor is all-important — could have a preview of an applicant's personality without having to wade through reams of applications and spend hours interviewing the wrong people?

Last March, Hunter and Evan Lodge — both Babson College MBA students at the time — founded HigherMe, a website and mobile app, expected to launch this fall, that allows job applicants to answer a series of questions posed by an employer, such as which hours they'd be available to work, what pay they'd expect, and what they would do if a customer were dissatisfied. Afterward, applicants have the option to make a 30-second video on their cellphone or webcam, explaining why they'd be the best person for the job.

HigherMe, a finalist in the MassChallenge startup accelerator and competition, then sends the employer a list of applicants ranked according to whether their answers matched the ones the employer was seeking, and the employer decides which applicants to interview,

For access to the company's database of candidates and screening software, Hunter, Lodge and their co-founder, Josh Stevens, expect to charge employers a monthly subscription fee of between $40 and $200 per store, depending on the number of applicants they want to contact and hire.

Alex Lowe, owner of Artis Coffee in Berkeley, Calif., and a former classmate of Hunter's who recently agreed to test the service, asked questions like, "What superhero would you be, and why?" ("If the applicant has fun with it, they'll probably be better at customer service," Lowe said.) He also asked, "Where do you see yourself in three months? In three years?"

"We want people who have a vision for their life, whether they'll be with us as a steppingstone or as a career," Lowe said. "It's given me a whole lot more depth into whether the person would be a cultural fit, rather than just: Can they make a cup of coffee?"

Brianna D'Amerosio, 24, of Methuen was looking for a waitressing job on Craigslist last week when she came across one at an Andover restaurant that asked applicants to use HigherMe to send in a video.

"Before I had a chance to answer any of the questions, I got an email saying they'd received my video and asking me to come in for an interview," D'Amerosio said. "For years, I've missed out on opportunities because there was nothing about me that really stood out on paper. So even if I don't get this job, I love the idea of being able to send someone something that will give them a glimpse into my personality."

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Helping veterans connect to companies

A coalition of Bay State companies, advocates and veterans is aiming to help vets translate skills they already have to the offices of tech companies.

"The goal is to help employers connect more effectively with a growing number of veterans who are reentering the workforce," said Chris Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and one of the leaders of New England Tech Vets. "No matter what a veteran did in the military, there is an equitable civilian skill."

The military has long been on the forefront of emerging technologies, so many vets have technical skills from flying drones, or operating sophisticated weapons.

And as the country's wars continue to wind down, roughly 1 million servicemen and women will leave active duty and enter the workforce, according to some estimates, but the unemployment rate for veterans remains high. Overall, the rate is 6.6 percent for vets of all wars — but 9 percent for veterans of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Major Bob Kinder, an Army Ranger who served on active duty for 20 years, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, said it took him a long time to find a job.

"It's not a piece of cake," Kinder said. "I have finally landed in a job just this week. It took me nine months."

He said the transition back to civilian life is hard for many vets, and a job can make a world of difference — far beyond a paycheck.

"They're leaving a very insular, cohesive society with a unique culture," he said. "One of the things to help form a community is a good job. It gives them a sense of purpose."

Kinder now works for G2 Capital Advisors.

One of the challenges many vets face is the struggle of describing the skills they have developed in the military, said Susan Fallon, who helps run the Tech Vets program for job site Monster.com.

"People out here in the business community, they speak a different language," Kinder agreed.

To address that, Tech Vets automatically converts a military job title to incorporate its standard requirements — which are often valuable in the civilian workforce. For example, an "infantryman" entry will automatically include skills such as advanced first aid and knowledge of blueprints and technical diagrams.

"An individual may not even know they have (certain) skills, but they've been doing that their whole career," said Ted Wadsworth, also of Monster.com.

Then there are the character attributes that employers may find even more valuable in a new employee: for many, a military background translates to a strong work ethic and discipline.

"Those intangibles," Kinder said, "are much more difficult to train."

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