Economic Outlook In America

June 25. 2008

Marie Antoinette Bush hiding his neck from Congress

The president is still fighting Congress and Congress is still fighting Congress, hence not much getting accomplished in the realm of rescuing distressed homeowners from the U.S. mortgage crisis.

The president and Congress has the ability to turn things around, but due to party differences and special interest, they are quibbling day in and day out and not resolving the financial crisis. Their inability to agree is exacerbating and prolonging the problem.

In the mean time, more homes are being lost to foreclosure, jobs are disappearing, the dollar is weakening, consumer spending is down and gas is up. The government isn't exporting enough either to compete with China and the EU. The only real exporting that's going on is jobs overseas. Oh what has the government wrought.

Stocks Fall on Worse Economic Data

More bad news on home prices and consumer confidence, as well as a profit warning from UPS, put pressure on equities

U.S. stocks were trading lower on Tuesday after an earnings warning from United Parcel Service and a more negative economic data showing further slippage in home prices and consumer confidence. Jitters about the Federal Reserve's thinking on the direction of interest rates, to be revealed Wednesday, are also weighing on the markets.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average was trading 99.74 points, or 0.84%, lower at 11,742.62. The broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was off 11.88 points, or 0.90%, at 1,306.12. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 33.64 points, or 1.41%, at 2,352.10.

The dollar weakened on the new batch of gloomy economic data, while gold and oil prices gained strength.

http://www.businessweek.com

The U.S. Consumer: Darkness in June
The plunge in the consumer confidence index shows deepening worries about inflation, with the report's future expectations index hitting an all-time low

http://www.businessweek.com

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Fell 15.3% in April (Update1)

June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas fell in April by the most on record, signaling the housing recession is far from over, a private survey showed today….

``There's such an excess of inventories that we certainly expect to see more price declines,'' said James O'Sullivan, a senior economist at UBS Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. ``The economy is still weakening and housing still looks pretty weak.''

http://www.bloomberg.com

Four years of gains in home prices wiped out

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Home prices across 20 major U.S. cities have dropped a record 15.3% in the past year and are now back to where they were in the summer of 2004, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's.

Prices in the 20 cities are now down 17.8% from the peak two years ago. Prices were lower in April than they were a year earlier in all 20 of the major metropolitan areas as tracked by the Case-Shiller index.

'There might be some regional pockets of improvement, but on an annual basis the overall numbers continue to decline.'

Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix saw the biggest declines, with prices falling by 25% or more in the past year. Prices in 10 cities have fallen by more than 10%.

http://www.marketwatch.com

Midwest flood victims feel misled by feds

Then on Tuesday, the worst happened: The levee burst and Gulfport was submerged in 10 feet of water. Only 28 property owners were insured against the damage.

"They all told us, 'The levees are good. You can go ahead and build,'" said Parks, who did not buy flood coverage because her bank no longer required it. "We had so much confidence in those levees."

http://apnews.myway.com