What is going on with the economy?

[IV]

Think positive.

[fourvetta]

IV Wrote:Think positive.

IV, I tried to squash that bug floating around my screen. Pretty funny.

Looks like you might only be able to afford a 845 square foot house in LA?

[IV]

Nah...the way we see it....at least 945 to 975sq ft! Wow.....enough roomfor what....at least 4 families...comfortably. Then we can all take baths in the pool in summer. *RePuke*

[2Real4me!]

Employers Slash Jobs by Most in 5 Years
Friday March 7, 1:25 pm ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer



Employers Slash 63,000 Jobs in February, Most in 5 Years, Feeding Recession Fears

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Employers slashed 63,000 jobs in February, the most in five years and the starkest sign yet that the country is heading dangerously toward recession or is in one already.
The Labor Department's report, released Friday, also indicated that the nation's unemployment rate dipped from 4.9 percent in January to 4.8 percent last month as hundreds of thousands of people -- perhaps discouraged by their prospects -- left the civilian labor force.
Job losses were widespread, with hefty cuts coming from construction, manufacturing, retailing, financial services and a variety of professional and business services. Those losses swamped gains elsewhere, including education and health care, leisure and hospitality and the government.
The latest snapshot of the nation's employment climate underscored the heavy toll of the housing and credit crises on companies, jobseekers and the overall economy.
To provide relief to persistent credit problems, the Federal Reserve announced Friday that it will increase the amount of loans it plans to make available to banks this month to $100 billion.
It has already provided a total of $160 billion in short-term loans to cash-strapped banks since the auctions began in December. Another Fed step will involve making $100 billion available to a broad range of financial players through a series of separate transactions.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials were down by nearly 90 points in early afternoon trading as the Fed's actions helped to blunt worry about the eroding jobs situation.
The Labor report also showed that January's job losses were worse than the government first reported. Employers cut 22,000 jobs, versus 17,000.
It was the first monthly back-to-back job losses since May and June 2003, when the job market was still struggling to recover from the blows of the 2001 recession.
The health of the nation's job market is critical in shaping how the overall economy fares. If companies continue to reduce hiring, that will spell more trouble.
"It certainly solidifies the notion that the economy has fallen into a recession," said Ken Mayland, economist at ClearView Economics.
Friday's report was much weaker than economists were expecting. They had been forecasting employers to boost payrolls by around 25,000. However, they were also expecting the jobless rate to edge up to 5 percent. The reason why the jobless rate went down, rather than up, is because so many people stopped looking for work and left the labor force.
President Bush's top economic adviser, Edward Lazear, acknowledged Friday that it's possible the economy shrank in the current January-to-March quarter. A growing number of economists think that will be the case, however, Lazear's comment was the most pessimistic assessment heard out of the White House. He would not discuss whether the White House is predicting the economy will actually fall into a recession. Some economists think it already has.
"We are disappointed any time you see a number showing lost jobs," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told The Associated Press. "This is consistent with a slowdown," he said. Still, he was hopeful that the recently enacted economic stimulus package forged by the White House and Congress will help bolster the economy in the second half of this year.
Workers with jobs, however, saw modest wage gains.
Average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to $17.80 in February, a 0.3 percent increase from the previous month. That was on target with economists' forecasts. Over the last 12 months, wages were up 3.7 percent. With high energy and food prices, though, workers may feel squeezed and feel like their paychecks aren't stretching that far.
With the economy losing momentum, fears have grown that the country in on the brink of its first recession since 2001.
Economic growth slowed to a near standstill of just a 0.6 percent pace in the final quarter of last year. Many economists predict growth in the January-to-March quarter will be worse -- around a 0.4 percent pace. Some believe the economy is shrinking now.
Spreading fallout from the housing and credit debacles are the main factors behind the economic slowdown. People and businesses alike are feeling the strains and have turned cautious. Adding to the stresses on pocketbooks, budgets and the economy: skyrocketing energy prices. Oil prices have set a string of record highs in recent days. Gasoline prices have marched higher, too.
To help shore up the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled last week that the central bank is prepared to lower interest rates again. Economists predict another cut on March 18, the Fed's next meeting. The Fed, which has been slicing the rate since September, recently turned more forceful. It slashed the rate by 1.25 percentage points in the course of just eight days in January -- the biggest one-month reduction in a quarter century.
The White House and Congress, meanwhile, speedily enacted an economic relief package, including tax rebates for people and tax breaks for businesses. That -- along with the Fed's rate cuts -- should help give a lift to the economy in the second half of this year, says Bernanke.
Still, unemployment is expected to move higher this year. The Federal Reserve predict the jobless rate will rise to as high as 5.3 percent in 2008. Last year, the unemployment rate averaged 4.6 percent.
All the economy's troubles are putting people in a gloomy mood.
According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence sank to a mark of 33.1 in early March, the worst reading since the index began in 2002.

[2Real4me!]

Bush: 'It's clear' economy has slowed



12 minutes ago


President Bush said Friday that "it's clear our economy has slowed" and tried to reassure an anxious public that the long-term outlook is good. "Losing a job is painful and I know Americans are concerned about our economy. So am I," Bush said during a hastily arranged White House appearance on the heels of a gloomy government economic report.

"I know this is a difficult time for our economy," he said. "But we recognized the problem early and we provided the economy with a booster shot."

Congress passed and Bush signed a stimulus package that will send tax rebates to many families and businesses. But some fear it will come too late — or that people will use the money to save or pay off debt, rather than go on a spending spree that would boost the economy.

Bush gently urged people to do the latter. "When the money reaches the American people, we expect they will use it to boost consumer spending," he said.

Earlier, the president's top economic adviser said that the nation's economic growth could dip into negative territory for the current quarter. That tracks with the assessments of many outside experts but is the most pessimistic word to come so far from the White House.

"We don't really know whether it will be negative or not," Edward Lazear, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters at the White House. "We have definitely downgraded our forecast for this quarter."

The flurry of activity came as the White House tried to brighten perceptions of the economic picture, clouded by the release earlier Friday of a report showing the economy lost 63,000 jobs last month, the most in five years.

Lazear would not discuss whether the White House is predicting the economy will actually fall into a recession. Some economists think it already has.

"I'm still not saying that there's a recession," Lazear said. "We are going to have a weak growth quarter, and whether you call that a recession or not is something that we won't know for many months."

He said the White House predicts jobs numbers will pick up by spring and growth will rebound by summer, driven primarily by the stimulus package.

"This quarter will be our weakest quarter," he said. "There are indicators suggesting that growth will pick up and pick up quickly. So the question is how quickly will it pick up."

He highlighted what he said was the good news in Friday's jobs report: that the unemployment rate dipped, wages grew and weekly hours stayed the same. However, the jobless rate fell to 4.8 percent in February from 4.9 percent because so many people left the labor force, perhaps discouraged by the difficulty of finding work. And average hourly earnings for jobholders rose only an anemic 0.3 percent from the previous month.

"Obviously we were disappointed," Lazear said about the job losses.

Bush focused even more on optimism than his adviser. "Our economy will prosper," the president said.

[stevepiv]

The data shown, proves there is some slowing going on. But, the media does a fine job to blow it out of proportion. All it takes is something else, to draw the attention away and this slowdown will be unmentioned of.

[IV]

stevepiv Wrote:The data shown, proves there is some slowing going on. But, the media does a fine job to blow it out of proportion. All it takes is something else, to draw the attention away and this slowdown will be unmentioned of.

You mean "something" like the latest headlines that talk of a judge banning homeschooling entirely here in wonderful California? Who's going to rebel against that one? I imagine most of the 166,000 families currently homeschooling outside of the public education system.

For example.

[stevepiv]

IV Wrote:

stevepiv Wrote:The data shown, proves there is some slowing going on. But, the media does a fine job to blow it out of proportion. All it takes is something else, to draw the attention away and this slowdown will be unmentioned of.

You mean "something" like the latest headlines that talk of a judge banning homeschooling entirely here in wonderful California? Who's going to rebel against that one? I imagine most of the 166,000 families currently homeschooling outside of the public education system.

For example.

I made a new thread in the General section to discuss the homeschool issue. That is, if anyone is interested.

[Disciple]

Funny, the economy is still growing. Americans are just addicted to 5-10% growth, so when it slows down to just 1-2% it seems like a recession. The economy is still growing, there is still a growth in the GDP, there has not been a reduction yet, so that means no recession.

Be that as it may, a recession would be a healthy turn for the puffed up economy. But alas the fed will go on lowering rates to spur the economy into another stagflation, just like in the 70's. Too bad Bernaki doesn't study history like greenspan did. Oh well. It's only money.

[2Real4me!]

Stocks Slide on Mixed News, Surging Oil
Monday March 10, 5:51 pm ET
By Madlen Read, AP Business Writer



Wall Street Pulls Back As Oil Soars and Investors Sift Through Shaky Corporate News

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street sank Monday as oil's surge above $108 a barrel and more worrisome signs for the financial sector led investors to extend last week's losses. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 150 points, bringing its three-day loss to nearly 515, while broader indexes showed steeper percentage losses.
Wall Street had no bleak economic data to contend with Monday, but instead faced a steady drumbeat of negative news on companies exposed to mortgages.
Mortgage lenders dropped after Thornburg Mortgage Inc. was downgraded by a Jefferies & Co. analyst and Countrywide Financial Corp. was reported to be under investigation by the government for securities fraud.
Then, Bear Stearns Cos. dropped as Moody's Investors Service downgraded a batch of Bear securities backed by Alt-A mortgages, which are home loans given to people lacking proof of income or with minor credit problems.
The slew of downbeat financial news overshadowed a strong February sales report from McDonald's Corp., and led restless investors to proceed cautiously ahead of big economic reports later in the week: Thursday's report on retail sales and Friday's report on consumer prices. Those two readings will give Wall Street a better idea of how much the average American is struggling with falling home values and rising costs, and how aggressively the Federal Reserve will need to act when it meets next week.
"The next three days, there aren't any set, big, market-moving reports," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The economic data Thursday and Friday is going to be the last bit of news, the last showing, before seeing what the Fed will do on the 18th."
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 153.54, or 1.29 percent, to finish near the lows of the session at 11,740.15. It was the lowest close for the Dow since October 2006.
Broader stock indicators also retreated. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 20.00, or 1.55 percent, to 1,273.37, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 43.15, or 1.95 percent, to 2,169.34.
Government bond prices jumped as stocks weakened. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.46 percent from 3.54 percent late Friday.
Investors appeared to shrug off an upbeat report from the Commerce Department that said U.S. wholesale inventories rose in January by 0.8 percent, more than expected, and that sales at U.S. wholesalers rose 2.7 percent, their widest jump since March 2004.
Last week, increasing worries about the economy and the continuing fallout from the credit crisis pounded the stock market. The Dow ended down 3.04 percent, the S&P 500 index was off 2.80 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index closed with a loss of 2.60 percent.
Recent record-breaking surges in commodities prices have worried many investors about whether the Federal Reserve might hesitate to lower key rates by as much as they want -- at least a half percentage point. Over the past few months, policy makers have cited the staggering economy as a greater risk than inflation.
On Monday, crude oil soared to finish at a record, rising $2.75 to $107.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after setting a trading record of $108.21 during the session. It was the fifth record set in the last six sessions.
Gold fell, while the dollar traded mixed.
Even if rising commodities costs do not restrain the Fed from lowering rates further, the market remains unsure that rate cuts will be enough to keep the sagging economy out of recession. Of particular concern is the job market -- the Labor Department last Friday said the economy lost 63,000 jobs last month.
Early Monday, JPMorgan analysts slashed their year-end target for the S&P 500 index and earnings for S&P 500 companies, after the bank's chief economist said he believes a recession began in January.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 16.14, or 2.45 percent, to 643.97.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 5 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.15 billion shares compared with 4.44 billion shares traded Friday.
McDonald's, a Dow component, rose $1.53, or 2.9 percent, to $53.80.
Thornburg Mortgage sank $1.08, or 60 percent, to 71 cents, while Countrywide fell 71 cents, or 14 percent, to $4.36.
Bear Stearns fell $7.78, or 11.1 percent, to $62.30 on the Moody's move and also amid market rumors about a liquidity squeeze at the company. Bear Stearns said in a statement there was "absolutely no truth" to the rumors.
Most Asian markets sank Monday, some in response to Wall Street's losses last week, with Tokyo's market falling to a 2 1/2-year low. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average tumbled 1.96 percent to its lowest point since September 2005.
Hong Kong's market bucked the trend, with a recovery in afternoon trading driven by bargain-hunting and gains at the bank HSBC. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.9 percent.
Stocks slipped on European exchanges. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.24 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.01 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 1.13 percent.