According to the latest data on negative equity from Zillow Inc. (NASDAQ: Z), more than 43% — some 22.3 million households — of U.S. homeowners are either underwater or they do not have enough equity in their homes to allow them to move. Home equity of at least 20% is typically needed in order for a homeowner to meet the costs of selling a home without a loss.

Zillow’s chief economist said:

Looking at the effective negative equity rate could explain why recent, healthy declines in the number of underwater borrowers haven’t yet translated into more homes for sale.

Rising home values eventually may overcome the negative equity for these homeowners, but waiting for home prices to rise can be enervating and risky.

Effective negative home equity rates (that is, underwater mortgages plus those with less than 20% positive equity) are highest in Las Vegas (71.5%), Atlanta (64.1%) and Riverside, Calif. (59.7%).

Zillow expects the number of underwater mortgages to fall from a current level of 25.4% to 23.5% by the first quarter of next year. That means another 1.4 million homeowners will once more get their heads above water. It is, indeed, a slow process.

The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled 2.05 trillion cubic feet, about 84 billion cubic feet lower than the five-year average of 2.14 trillion cubic feet. Working gas in storage totaled 2.73 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago. Natural gas inventories are roughly in the middle of the five-year range.

The weekly storage increase is a bit smaller than the 99 billion cubic feet build in the previous week. Seasonal factors likely influenced the smaller increase. Late spring typically sees lower demand since both heating and cooling demands are diminished. The slightly lower storage total could also indicate that producers are waiting (hoping?) for prices to rise.

Here’s how stocks of the largest U.S. natural gas producers are reacting to today’s report:

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the country’s largest producer of natural gas, is down 0.5% to $91.72, in a 52-week range of $77.13 to $93.67.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) is down 0.1%, at $21.08 in a 52-week range of $14.25 to $22.97. Chesapeake’s share drop is largely due to a downgrade to Neutral from J.P. Morgan.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) is down about 0.4%, at $130.39 in a 52-week range of $82.48 to $139.00.

The U.S. Natural Gas Fund (NYSEMKT: UNG) is up 0.8%, at $22.75 in a 52-week range of $15.18 to $24.09. The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEMKT: OIH) is down 1.5%, at $43.89 in a 52-week range of $32.54 to $45.80. The first fund tracks spot prices; the second includes major drillers and services companies.

The Census Bureau also reported that the median sales price for new homes sold in April was $271,600, about 8.3% above the March median, and the average sales price was $330,800, up about 15.4% from March. The median sales price for a new house in March was $250,700 and the average sales price was $286,70000.

At the end of April the number of new homes for sale totaled 156,000, a supply of 4.1 months, up from an inventory totaling 151,000 at the end of March.

The sharp price increases in April follow an almost equally sharp drop in prices from February to March. The tight inventory suggests that prices could continue to rise until the supply of new houses increases. Rising mortgage rates also could begin to weigh on sales.

The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses with mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Home prices are recovering fastest in the Pacific states, which saw a price hike of 4.4%, compared with the first quarter of 2012. Of the 75 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States, the largest one-year gain in house prices occurred in the Jacksonville, Fla., area, where prices rose 9.3%.

The good news on house prices — for sellers — is that they continue to rise in all regions of the country. The good news for buyers is that housing prices are still more than 12% below the April 2007 peak and mortgage loan rates remain low, although they have been rising slightly. The purchase price index for March is roughly equal to the index level in November 2004.

Total gasoline inventories increased by 3 million barrels last week and are now near the upper limit of the five-year average range. Total motor gasoline supplied averaged 8.5 million barrels a day over the past four weeks — a drop of about 3.3% compared with the same period a year ago.

Distillate inventories fell by 1.1 million barrels last week and remain in the lower half of the average range. Distillate product supplied averaged 3.8 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, up about 2.5% when compared with the same period last year. Distillate production totaled 4.8 million barrels a day last week, higher by 200,000 barrels compared with the prior week.

The American Petroleum Institute last night reported an inventory build of 532,000 barrels in crude supplies last week, together with an increase of 3 million barrels in gasoline supplies and a rise of 459,000 barrels in distillate supplies. Platts estimated a decline of 1.2 million barrels in crude inventories, a drop of 200,000 barrels in gasoline inventories, and a rise of 1.1 million barrels in distillate inventories.

Crude prices were down about 0.4% before the EIA report at around $95.80 a barrel and slid to around $95.00, down 1.2%, shortly after the report was released.

For the past week, crude imports averaged more than 8.1 million barrels a day, up about 507,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Refineries were running at 87.3% of capacity, with daily input of 15.2 million barrels a day, about 4,000 barrels a day less than the previous week.

The steep rise in gasoline inventories has not be reflected in pump prices. According to gasbuddy.com, a gallon of regular gasoline averages about $3.69 today, compared with $3.61 a week ago and $3.50 a month ago. This week marks the second consecutive week for a substantial boost in gasoline inventories, and we would expect the price to drop. Perhaps anticipated demand for the coming holiday weekend is propping up gasoline prices. It is about the only explanation we can imagine.

The United States Oil ETF (NYSEMKT: USO) is down 1.2%, at $33.70 in a 52-week range of $29.02 to $37.17.

The United States Gasoline ETF (NYSEMKT: UGA) is down 1.1%, at $55.82, in a 52-week range of $45.13 to $65.86.

The United States Brent Oil ETF (NYSEMKT: BNO) is down 0.9%, at $78.18 in a 52-week range of $63.00 to $88.71.

Housing inventory rose again in April, up 11.9% to 2.16 million homes, which is equal to a supply of 5.2 months, compared with a 4.7-month supply in March. Listed inventory is down 13.6% year-over-year, when there was a 6.6 month supply available.

According to the NAR, the national median existing home price in April was $192,800, up 11% compared with April 2012 and the 14th consecutive month to see a price gain. The last time housing prices went on such a string of price increases was the period between April 2005 and May 2006.

NAR’s chief economist said:

Buyer traffic is 31 percent stronger than a year ago, but sales are running only about 10 percent higher. It’s become quite clear that the only way to tame price growth to a manageable, healthy pace is higher levels of new home construction.

Foreclosed and short sales accounted for 18% of April sales, down from 21% of March sales, and below the 28% share in April 2012. Foreclosures sold at an average 16% discount to the April median price, while short sales sold at a discount of 14%. Both discounts increased slightly month-over-month.

Existing, non-distressed homes were on the market for an average of 44 days, while foreclosed homes were on the market for an average of 43 days and short sales took a median of 73 days to sell.

Higher selling prices and higher interest on mortgage loans are combining to slow existing home sales. The inventory numbers, however, continue to look solid. As long as inventory does not fall dramatically, existing home sales should continue to improve slowly.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 3% from the last report. On an unadjusted basis, the composite index fell by 10% week-over-week. The unadjusted purchase index decreased by 4% for the week, but it is still up about 10% year-over-year.

The MBA’s refinance index fell 12% week-over-week.

The share of refinancings fell from the previous week’s total of 76% to 74%. Adjustable rate mortgage loans now account for 5% of all applications, up 1% from last week.

The average mortgage loan rate for a conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 3.67% to 3.78%. The rate for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased, from 3.87% to 3.93%. The average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 2.88% to 2.96%.

The contract interest rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage loan rose from 2.55% to 2.6%.

An MBA executive noted:

Mortgage rates increased to their highest level since March last week, leading to the largest single week drop in refinance applications this year. The refinance index has fallen almost 19 percent over the past two weeks and is back to its lowest level since late March.

The second consecutive decline in mortgage applications week-over-week follows two weeks of rising applications. Mortgage loan rates continue to climb higher, again after two weeks of slight declines. Higher loan rates appear to be having a significant impact on refinancings.

The latest data about Facebook use, particularly in contrast to Twitter, is from Pew Internet. The report titled “Teens, Social Media, and Privacy” is an assessment of the use of the two huge social media sites:

Teen Twitter use has grown significantly: 24% of online teens use Twitter, up from 16% in 2011.

And:

Focus group discussions with teens show that they have waning enthusiasm for Facebook, disliking the increasing adult presence, people sharing excessively, and stressful “drama,” but they keep using it because participation is an important part of overall teenage socializing.

The Pew study is much more about how teens manage privacy on the Web, but its observations about Twitter and Facebook are too incendiary to stay out of the headlines.

Investors are left with measuring Facebook’s one billion users with how much they use it. The size of the Facebook user base is extremely seductive to the marketers that ultimately will determine its financial fate. Facebook’s inventory is almost endless — by some estimates it has a quarter of all the online display ads in the United States. But many marketers are more interested in features that allow users to share marketing messages with one another, which makes advertising activity active and not passive as it is on other media, like TV. In theory, people who show ads to their friends are better potential customers than people who see ads and immediately forget them.

Because Facebook is a public company, it has to defend itself as often as possible with statistics that argue it is still the most important social medium of all, no matter what other research shows. Most recently, Facebook launched a new campaign about the huge numbers of people who use it. Among the data it released in its new “Facebook’s Growth in the Past Year” are that the company reported 4.5 billion “likes” per day in May, up 67% from the same measurement from August of last year. In addition, 4.5 billion pieces of content were shared each day in May, up 94% from last August. And active users have hit 1.11 billion this month, up 23% from March of last year. Facebook does not say why each of the comparisons is not identical, based on which months it used from the past. Perhaps August comparisons are better in some cases, and March comparisons in others. It does open up the possible accusation that Facebook has “gamed” the numbers to make them look as good as possible.

In the end, there is not enough information about an erosion of Facebook’s audience, a drop in user interest, for shareholders to panic. The company’s sales continue to rise at an impressive pace. It is still the number one, undisputed leader among social media sites. Pew might have cast another bit of doubt on Facebook’s future, but it is not one that it likely to linger. Another study about Facebook’s audience and that of its competitors will be along soon enough. And that, like others, is not likely to be conclusive.

A combination of factors contributed to the increase in confidence, according to Gallup. Record-high stock prices, a lower unemployment rate, increasing home prices and moderating gasoline prices all played a part in the boost in confidence.

When assessing current economic conditions, Americans’ confidence improved to -12 last week, one of the best ratings since Gallup began this tracking poll five years ago. Looking further ahead, Americans’ confidence in the outlook for the U.S. economy rose to a positive reading of 2, the first time ever that the outlook has been in positive numbers.

The good news from Gallup is quite fragile, however, and if any of the positive factors should turn sour, a downturn in confidence could quickly return.

Apple’s stock price by itself shows how investors have devalued the company and its products. A month ago, its share price was down 40% from its 52-week high. BrandZ would argue that the drop does not matter. The research firm’s methodology is such that Apple’s troubles could be swept under a rug:

It is the only study to combine measures of brand equity based on interviews with over two million consumers globally about thousands of global ‘consumer facing’ and business-to-business brands with a rigorous analysis of the financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel) to separate the value that brand plays in driving business revenue and market capitalization. Consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value because brands are a combination of business performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning, and leadership. The ranking takes into account regional variations since, even for truly global brands, measures of brand contribution might differ substantially across countries

However, that explanation is inadequate. Apple’s brand valuation was higher by 1% year-over-year in the current study, which makes the BrandZ number even more questionable.

The most useful contrast among the top brands in the study, at least as far as how odd the results are, is that Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) brand value was only up 5% to $133.7 billion. Google’s success over the past year, in contrast to Apple’s, would argue powerfully for a much better increase.

As for the balance of the top 10: International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) ranked third with a valuation of $112.5 (down 3%). It was followed by McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) at $90.3 billion (down 5%), Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) at $70.4 billion (up 6%), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) up 10% to $75.5 billion, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) down 9% to $69.8 billion, Marlboro down 6% to $69.4 billion, Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) up 46% to $56.1 billion, and China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL) up 18% to $55.4 billion.

The valuations are not meant to track stock price alone, or a foundation of value based in financial results. However, the values at least should not be entirely offset by these things. As such, Visa’s revenue last year was up from $9.2 billion to $10.4 billion, and net income fell from $3.7 billion to $2.1 billion. These results are well less than spectacular, and might even be counted as mediocre. How do they justify a 46% increase in the value of the Visa brand?

BrandZ is free to use its own complex valuation model — it is the company’s survey, after all. But when the valuations do not true up at all to the real world, all the results have to be taken with a great deal of skepticism.