LAS VEGAS – World Market Center announced that nine home furnishings and design trade associations will open their first Las Vegas office at the Las Vegas furniture trade complex.

ASSAGO, ITALY – ACIMALL, the Italian Woodworking Machinery and Tools Manufacturers’ Assn., said a preliminary balance for 2006 indicates a clear recovery of Italian woodworking machinery, with production exceeding $2.3 billion and exports nearly totaling $1.9 billion. The Italian market has grown with an 18% sales increase and imports up 12% in the last 12 months.

RESTON, VA – Cabinet sales for November 2006 decreased 2.9% compared to November 2005, ending a streak of 127 months of year-over-year growth, according to the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Assn.’s monthly Trends of Business survey. Stock cabinet sales decreased 5.2%; semi-custom sales increased 1.3% and custom sales decreased 10.6%. The year-to-date sales show an increase of 7.6%, with stock sales up 6.6%, semi-custom sales up 9.7% and custom sales up 2.3%.

WASHINGTON – Builder confidence rose two points in January, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This continues from an upward trend that began in the final quarter of 2006. The HMI improved from December’s upwardly revised 33 to 35 in January, its highest level since July 2006.

Two environmentalist groups have separately asked the Sustainable Forestry Board to revoke Sustainable Forestry Initiative certificates held by Plum Creek Timber and Weyerhaeuser, according to The Washington Post.

HIGH POINT, NC – A draft bill approved Monday, Jan. 22, by a state legislative study panel would allow nonprofit foundations to invest in furniture manufacturers to help preserve jobs for North Carolina workers, according to The Dispatch. The proposal is titled the Omnibus Endangered Manufacturers Act.

WASHINGTON – U.S. imports of wood and upholstered furniture increased a relatively modest 4.3% through the first nine months of 2006 compared to the same period for 2005.

SCHAUMBURG, IL – Experienced and fledgling closet system installers can hone their skills at two free workshops scheduled for Friday, March 23, at the 3rd annual Closets & Home Organization Conference & Expo™ in Schaumburg, IL. Each of the one-hour clinics that anchor "Installer Day" at the Closets Expo is being led by Ken Olsen, senior installer, and Greg Cetera, sales designer, of Closet Works Inc. of Elmhurst, IL. The demonstrations will be staged on the show floor of the Schaumburg Convention Center.

CALGARY, AB — Furniture West Inc., the association of furniture manufacturers in Western Canada, announced a first-of-its-kind event coming to Calgary. Connections West will take place June 18 and 19, 2007, at Stampede Park’s Round Up Centre in Calgary.

WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a trade association representing more than 235,000 members, announced Jan. 25 that its Multifamily Stock Index (MFSI) dipped again in December. The December numbers released today dropped 111 points, about 3%, from the November MFSI to an index value of 3,521.