WASHINGTON - US HOME prices in the 20 largest cities fell by a record 19 per cent in January from a year ago in a downward spiral with no end in sight, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller survey showed on Tuesday.

The year-on-year decline was steeper than analysts' consensus forecast of an 18.6 per cent drop, and eclipsed December's record decline of 18.5 per cent.

NEW YORK - SOME slivers of hopes helped Americans' feelings about the economy hold steady in March, after plummeting to historic lows in February. But people are still gloomy about their future given mounting layoffs and shrinking earnings.

LONDON - G-20 leaders meeting in London this week will agree new global rules on bankers' pay, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday.

Speaking two days before the crunch summit, Mr Brown lamented the relative lack of regulation of the financial sector in recent years, saying: 'free markets became worshipped as a god, but that god was false.'