President George W. Bush made a few final statements before boarding his plane for a trip to Europe on Monday. With gas prices escalating over the weekend, the President said his office is pushing for solutions that will lesson the supply-and-demand imbalance that is now occurring in the energy sector.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released Monday its Pending Home Sales Index for the month of April, which is a forward-looking statistical tool based on the most recent volume of home sales contracts.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based ServiceLink, an arm of Fidelity National Financial that provides origination and default services, has appointed Kevin Kelly vice president of development for Vision Global Solutions.

Irvine, California-based Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC) has named Chris Alcedo vice president of its Client Management Division. Alcedo, who most recently served EMC Mortgage Corp. in the role of senior vice president of REO Management and Disposition, has 15 years of experience in REO portfolio management and also spent his tenure at the company managing in-house and outsourced processes, technology and staff.

David Glaser, who served Bear Stearns & Co. as co-head of investment banking, is joining Bank of America (BofA) as chairman of the banking giant’s global mergers and acquisitions sector, according to %{=font-style: italic;}Reuters:http://www.

Los Angeles, California-based REOTrans, LLC, a company that sells foreclosures through its Web-based platform, said Monday that it has sold 150,000 homes, valued at $22 billion in the past five years. The company primarily serves financial institutions who are then able to utilize its software system to manage and sell REOs.

Bank of America (BofA) sent a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission Friday to inform the agency of pending job cuts at its Return and Exception unit located at Elm Street downtown. In the letter, BofA says 71 associates will be affected when the unit officially closes.

A spokesperson for subprime lending platform Accredited Home Lenders confirmed Friday that the company has informed its employees of a restructuring of the company’s workforce.

FreedomWorks, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of taxpayers, continues its protest of both a Senate and House Bill that propose an additional $300 billion in funding to help distressed borrowers.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey addressed questions from reporters this week about the need to tackle mortgage fraud and the subprime crisis through a national investigation, spearheaded by a government entity like the Justice Department.