By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
November 24, 2009
Consumers looking for signs on the future of the economy got a slightly less than encouraging outlook from a batch of economic reports Tuesday.
There was good news to be sure. After the worst recession since the Great Depression, the economy is growing again. The government reports Gross Domestic Product - the output of goods and services - grew in the third quarter by 2.8 percent.
After what we've been through, you might think any growth would be good, but Wall Street is spinning the news as slightly discouraging, because analysts had predicted a slightly better showing.
On the heels of Monday's report by the National Association of Realtors, showing a significant jump in existing home sales, the S&P/Case-Shiller housing report was something of a downer. True, it showed home sales rising in the third quarter - but not rising enough.
According to the report, the average home price increased 3.1 percent over the second quarter, but remains nearly nine percent below the average price a year ago. It showed values in the hardest hit market, Las Vegas, continue to fall and are now down more than 50 percent from their highs.
All of this matters to consumers, who need a growing economy to keep their job - or to get another one if they're among the 10.2 percent of the workforce that's currently unemployed.
Jobs Are Key
"If we want to get this economy going, if we want to get this economy recovering and add jobs, we're going to want to see better numbers than we are seeing," Richard Sparks, a senior equities analyst with Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, told Reuters.
Even so, it appears consumers are feeling better about the economy than they did a few months ago. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 49.5 in November. That was actually higher than the 47.7 reading that analysts expected.
However, consumers seem to feel better about the future than the way things are at the moment. The Conference Board's measure of "Present Conditions" fell to a reading of 21, the lowest level in 26 years.
