Lots of fresh data on the economic recovery came out this week. Here are some of the key figures:
* Some good news on the unemployment front, where the Labor Department reported that first-time jobless claims dropped somewhat, to 514,000 from 524,000 the previous week. The number remains headed in the right direction - but we're still losing half a million jobs a week.
* The Labor Department also said consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in September. Over the past 12 months, consumer prices have fallen 1.3 percent. Inflation, if it indeed returns, still looks a long way off. Gold prices, which many take as a bellwether of inflation, made a small retreat this week as well.
* Bad news on housing: Third-quarter foreclosures were up 5 percent from the second quarter - up 23 percent from the same period in 2008. Overall, third-quarter foreclosures totaled 938,000.
* And of course, the Dow made it back to five figures, closing above 10,000 for the first time in more than a year.
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