A looming April 30 deadline for home buyers to qualify for a federal tax credit is boosting activity in the Greater Des Moines real estate market, the Des Moines Area Association of Realtors said today. The number of closings increased to 596 in March from 400 in February and 527 in March 2009. The average sales price was $141,584. The real estate group also said that the number of contracts written jumped to 1,046 from 740 in February and 779 in March 2009. The federal Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit gives up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers until April 30 and up to $6,500 to current homeowners purchasing a new or existing home between Nov. 7, 2009, and April 30.

The U.S. economy is poised to avoid a double-dip recession, Bloomberg reported. Companies from Tiffany & Co. to Home Depot Inc. are restocking shelves in a move that will boost economic growth and may keep the recovery on track through 2010. Tiffany is planning for a “high single-digit percentage increase” in inventories this year as the world’s second-largest luxury jeweler retailer opens new stores, the New York-based company’s chief financial officer said. Home Depot, the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, “will be building inventory” this year in support of stronger sales, Carol Tome, chief financial officer of the Atlanta-based company, said during an analysts call. JPMorgan Chase & Co. advised clients to stick with a “recovery trade” that favors stocks over bonds and is overweighted with “cyclical” shares that will rise in an economic rebound.

Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. may have to set aside an additional $30 billion to cover possible losses on home-equity loans, an amount almost equal to analysts’ estimates of profit at the three banks this year, Bloomberg reported. The cost of these reserves was calculated by CreditSights Inc., a New York-based research firm that predicted almost four years ago that banks would report unprecedented mortgage-related write downs. Potential write downs on the loans are casting a shadow over earnings, as analysts try to determine how much, and how quickly, loan-loss expenses will decline from the industry-wide peak reached in June 2009, Bloomberg said.

Smartphone maker Palm Inc. is looking for a buyer, Reuters and Bloomberg reported. Palm, which makes the Pre and Pixi phones and develops WebOS phone software, is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer. On Friday, Taiwan’s Economic Daily News said HTC Corp., the world’s fifth-ranked smartphone maker, has “opened discussions about an intent to acquire” Palm.