by Laura Conaway

Good morning, and welcome to the latest mixed signs of the times.

The Federal Housing Administration, which backs home loans with small down payments, is either at risk of needing a bailout, as a former Fannie Mae executive told Congress yesterday, or is going to make it through, as FHA commissioner David Stevens told them.

The U.S. trade deficit fell just a bit in August, the Commerce Department reports, as exports rose ticked upward and imports ticked downward. On the other hand, retailers sold slightly more in September than in August.

In its October report, Elizabeth Warren's Congressional Oversight Panel questions whether federal efforts to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure will help enough people or help them long enough. Treasury issued its own report saying the Making Home Affordable Program is finally on its way and has helped 500,000 mortgage holders so far.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reassured inflation watchers by signaling that the central bank has a plan for tiptoeing back out of its many market interventions of the past year. The New York Times reports that policymakers at the Fed disagree over when to raise interest rates again.

Where's employment growing? Canada, where employers added 30,600 jobs in September and the jobless rate fell from 8.7 percent to 8.4 percent.