Andrew Torgan
CNN Financial News Producer

Sales of previously-owned homes fell in August, snapping a four-month streak of increases.

Existing home sales fell 2.7% last month from July to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million units, but were up 3.4% from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Sales had jumped 15.2% in the previous four months.

Lawrence Yun, the NAR's chief economist, said the drop may reflect delays in completing sales due to tough lending standards and new rules for appraisals.

Nationwide sales are up nearly 14% from their bottom in January, but are still down nearly 30% from their peak about four years ago. For the housing market to stabilize, Yun says sales would need to rise to a pace of around 5.5 million to 6 million.

Additionally, the median sales price was $177,700, down 12.5% from $203,200 in the same month last year.

One bright spot in the report: Despite the decrease in sales, the supply of homes on the market fell significantly in August. Total housing inventory fell by 10.8% to 3.62 million existing homes for sale. That's an 8.5-month supply, down from a 9.3-month supply in July.

Unemployment claims keep sliding

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell last week – the third straight week of declines.

There were 530,000 initial claims filed in the week ended Sept. 19, down a better-than-expected 21,000 from a revised 551,000 in the previous week.

And the number of people who continue to receive benefits for one week or more fell by 123,000 to 6,138,000 in the week ended Sept. 12, the most recent data available.

Banks win first round in consumer fight

This summer, when Obama administration officials talked about overhauling financial regulation, they threw around a catchy phrase sure to appeal to consumers: "Plain vanilla" mortgages and credit cards.

"Plain vanilla" was used to illustrate the powers of a proposed new consumer agency. The agency could set basic standards - like one-page, easy-to-understand applications for 30-year-fixed mortgages.

Now, the so-called Consumer Financial Protection Agency won't get that power, according to a memo on the agency released by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank.

The memo also says that some key providers of financial services, such as consumer reporting agencies, real estate brokers and auto dealers, would not be subject to the new agency's oversight.

Although the final bill language has yet to be released, experts on both sides of the fight agree the memo signals that top Democrats have made concessions to smooth passage of the most controversial yet symbolic part of regulatory reform.

Recession puts children on hold

The recession is apparently prompting more women to try to delay having children, according to the first survey aimed at documenting the effects of the economic downturn on childbearing.

Nearly half of working-class women want to put off getting pregnant or to have fewer children, according to the survey, which was commissioned by the Guttmacher Institute, a private, nonprofit reproductive-health research organization.

The study, conducted by Knowledge Networks, involved a nationally representative sample of 947 women ages 18 to 34 with household incomes of less than $75,000, and it was conducted in July and August.

Nintendo slashes Wii price by 20%

Nintendo said it is cutting the price of its popular Wii video-game console by $50 to $199.99.

The 20% price drop will take effect Sept. 27th. The new price is the first reduction since the console launched in November 2006.

The interactive Wii immediately proved wildly popular across demographics – including at nursing homes and rehabilitation centers to aid patients' recovery - and demand for the console outstripped supply more than a year after its initial release.

Nintendo's price cut mirrors recent moves by rivals Microsoft and Sony.

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