Recovery, what recovery???
There’s no good news in the economic data released today… If President Obama and the Democrats in Congress where hoping improving economic indicators would help rescue their health care reform plans there out of luck.
Retail Sales fell 0.1 percent last month, while new jobless claims increased to a seasonally adjusted 558,000, from 554,000 the previous week and foreclosures rose 7 percent in July:
Retail sales disappointed in July and the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week. The latest government reports reinforced concerns about how quickly consumers will be able to contribute to a broad economic recovery.
“There is really no positive spin to put on these numbers,” Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research note. “The U.S. consumer remains very weak. The jobs situation, while slowly improving, is still dismal.”
The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales fell 0.1 percent last month. Economists had expected a gain of 0.7 percent.
France and Germany have both shown GDP growth in second quarter while the US economy declined an additional 1% in the same period.
I don’t see a lot of positive signs for the economy horizon, frankly, I think Ed Morrissey’s right, the radical policy agenda being pushed by the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress is keeping a lot of capital sidelines. Investors aren’t going to jump into American markets while our political leadership is hell bent pushing radical, business-hostile legislation like cap and trade through Congress.
Related
- Auto inventories tight, U.S. “clunker” interest slips – Reuters
- Federal deficit higher in July, $1.27T this year – Associated Press