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The Republican candidates for president face off tonight in the last debate before the next round of primaries on Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Arizona and Michigan. Ahead of the critical Super Tuesday primaries set for March 6, these two races gained importance, not only in terms of delegates but in terms of momentum, after Rick Santorum swept Mitt Romney in the trifecta of races held earlier this month in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. (See: Ralph Nader's Advice to Gingrich on a Third Party Run: "Go for It!")

The two candidates are now in a virtual tie in Michigan, but Romney still has a slight edge over Santorum in the Arizona, according to an NBC/Marist poll of likely Republican voters. In Arizona, Romney has 43% of the support and Santorum 27%, followed by Newt Gingrich with 16% and Ron Paul in fourth place with 11%. Meanwhile in Michigan, Romney is favored by 37% of voters versus 35% who are supporting Santorum.

The race has certainly

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Existing-home sales increased slightly less than expected in the month of January, up 4.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million, and sales were up 0.7% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. This marks the third month in four that sales of existing single family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops has increased. December home sales, originally seen up 5.0% month-over-month, were revised down to a 4.38 million unit pace, reflecting an 0.5% drop.

"These are good numbers and we've seen many housing numbers lately that have come out positive," says IHS U.S. economist Partick Newport, who believes good weather and positive economic momentum pushed sales higher.

Since the beginning of the year, there's been a lot of chatter over whether the U.S. housing market may have hit bottom. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman

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Global oil prices jumped to a nine-month high Tuesday to $106 a barrel after Iran announced it was stopping oil shipments to France and Britain. Iran is responding to heavy pressure from America, Europe and other allies, who want to stop the country's nuclear power program before the radical regime can build nuclear weapons.

This most recent move by Iran to ban oil exports to the two European countries comes as a direct preemptive response to the European Union's planned Iran oil embargo set for this summer. The EU has already frozen assets of Iran's central bank.

In recent weeks, you've also probably heard news stories about Iran threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. It hasn't happened yet, but Iran has indicated it could close the Strait or take other measures should the country feel threatened enough by the Western allies.

But right now you might be wondering: What is the Strait of Hormuz and why does it matter TO YOU?