Gloomy U.S. consumers clip housing recovery hopes

Yahoo ^ | 6/30/09

[FromLori]

U.S. consumer confidence took an unexpectedly steep slide in June, figures released on Tuesday showed, suggesting the 18-month-long recession had yet to loosen its grip on the economy.

A separate report on April house prices in major cities offered some encouraging signs that the worst of the housing slump may be over, but that was not enough to lift investors' spirits. Another crop of economic data showed business activity in New York City and the Midwest remained weak, while retail chains slogged through a rough June.

Billionaire investor George Soros added to the cautionary tone, saying that rising borrowing costs posed a threat to any eventual economic recovery.

"As markets revive, fear of inflation will drive up interest rates, which will choke off recovery," he said at a breakfast hosted by the Wall Street Journal.

Major stock market indexes fell after the Conference Board's consumer confidence index showed households felt gloomier about their current situation and less optimistic about what the coming months might bring.

Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed trading at Keybanc Capital Markets in Cleveland, said the confidence data "kind of took the wind out of things a little bit."

Investors had been in a somewhat better mood since an early March trough as economic data suggested the pace of the recession was slackening. But with no clear sign that growth is about to resume, sentiment has begun to fade in recent weeks.

The consumer confidence index fell to 49.3 in June from 54.8 in May. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a healthier reading of 55.0 for the month.

Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price indexes showed prices of single-family homes declined in April from the prior month, but the pace of the slide moderated.

[KoRn]

"Economists polled by Reuters had expected a healthier reading of 55.0 for the month"

When do things ever work out the way 'they' expect? I have yet to hear of a news report where the economy does what 'they' expect. It's always more or less than 'they' "expected".

This brings the obvious question: Why in the hell does anyone continue to listen to these people? 'They' are almost ALWAYS WRONG!!!

[muawiyah]

Yahoo’s writers are saying the recession is 18 months old. In reality it dates from the end of the first quarter of calendar year 2009.

[Cementjungle]

...18-month-long recession had yet to loosen its grip on the economy

I have a feeling it's just getting started.

[John123]

said the confidence data "kind of took the wind out of things a little bit."

Dammit people... let's go! What more do you need from Barack? /s

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a healthier reading of 55.0 for the month.

Let's count the reasons we have to be optimistic.

1. Looming gigantic VAT - Nope.
2. Historically high state deficits meaning huge tax increases - Nope.
3. Leftist states paying taxpayers with IOUs because they are broke - Nope.
4. Looming enormous energy taxes that will curtail your freedom and make it impossibly expensive to heat and cool your house or transport your family anywhere - Nope.
5. Tremendous job losses coming due to "energy" bill that won't produce any energy - Nope.
6. Government takeover of the automobile and financial services industries - Nope.
7. Gigantic healthcare bill that will further bankrupt the country while denying all of us basic care and make us wards of the state - Nope.
8. Continuing large hang-over of adjustable rate mortgages that haven't fully adjusted yet - Nope
9. Decimation of commercial real estate yet to come - Nope
10. Killing of missile defense when we need it more than ever against Iran and Nork - Nope
11. Trillion dollar deficits every year projected for the next 10 years - Nope
12. Most all mortgagees who take government largesse find themselves late on payments again a few short months later - Nope

Did I miss something here?

Frankly, I have never been so pessimistic about my future as I am at this time.

[TheBattman]

I just have to say it...

Well DUH!!! More jobs lost, companies cutting back, more foreclosures, some banks jacking their credit card holder’s before the new laws kick in, etc. Ummm, yeah- we are REAL surprised that consumer spending hasn’t turned around.

[Jim from C-Town]

I guess those green shoots were just weeds

[EVO X]

Yahoo’s writers are saying the recession is 18 months old. In reality it dates from the end of the first quarter of calendar year 2009.

GDP began to fall apart 4Q of 07. It went positive for a couple of quarters because of tax refunds and Bush's stimulus checks. It then went negative for the 3Q of 08 and has been stinking it up ever since 3Q 08..

[Jim from C-Town]

I think that is right. Didn't’ the first quarter of actual negative growth was in 1st Qtr ‘09. Am I right about that.

[Jim from C-Town]

That is what I thought. A reduction in growth is NOT a recession. A recession is two economic quarters of negative growth. The first Quarter of Negative growth was 3rd Qtr ‘08 so that is the beginning of the recession.

[ilgipper]

Yep. The concept of recession was completely rewritten to be able to ‘blame Bush’ for a prolonged recession. Q4 07 was just slightly negative, and then we had positive growth in Q1 and Q2 of 2008, and despite the September collapse, it was barely negative in Q3 - things were obviously growing positively in the quarter when the crash hit in September. Fact is that the recession started in the second half of 2008 and should be recognized as a recession after the Q4 08 numbers were released. The left likes to reinvent things to their favor on a regular basis.

[KoRn]

"Frankly, I have never been so pessimistic about my future as I am at this time."

Neither have I. I started a 401K last year(yes, I'm young). I'm considering shutting it down, and just putting the money in a dammed jar. I don't trust anything right now when it comes to the economy. There are no clear rules or fundamentals right now, and I can't imagine anything getting any better any time soon.

[hinckley buzzard]

The 18 month lengh of recession is from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private NGO which uses a definition much looser and more subjective than the usual two quarters of contraction. It is based in liberal bastions and should not be considered an unbiased objective source.

[eggman]

Welcome to the Obama Depression. They can blame Bush for the recession but the latest slide into the red is a direct result of Obama’s policies.

[Iron Munro]

Those green sprouts the media continually reports seeing always turn out to be dying weeds.

[kara2008]

Frankly, I have never been so pessimistic about my future as I am at this time.

Likewise. It's not going to be pretty to say the least...OK, so to add to the very good list...

13. Check Card
14. Looming Immigration "reform"
15. Expiration of Bush Tax cuts
More.....

[wbones8765]

Part of his plan to reshape this country like his home in Kenya.

[meatloaf]

Maybe they should get jobs forecasting the weather.

[WeatherGuy]

Gloomy U.S. consumers clip housing recovery hopes

Those damn gloomy consumers!   How dare they stand in the way of Lord Obama's glorious economic recovery.