Econ Stats of the Day: GDP Revised, Housing Starts, Consumer Confidence
4th Quarter 2005 GDP — Revised upward from 1.1% to 1.6%. That’s a little more like it. Most, including yours truly, predicted the upward revision. Still, not impressive, and in the context of reports that 1st Quarter 2006’s rate will be 4.5% or more, odd to say the least.
Existing Home Sales — Down 2.8%, to a seasonally adjusted 6.56 million units. Most analysts believed that 2005’s rate was unsustainable.
Consumer Confidence — This is one of those things I call “Indicators of media success at convincing people the economy is worse than it really is.” Those whose mission it is to make that case had a good month: The Conference Boards’s consumer confidence index fell from January’s revised 106.8 to 101.7 in February, below an expected 104.0.
Consumer Confidence. Yeah… lets poll after the MSM does everything it can to drive those numbers into the ground. These numbers have become their new ‘misery’ index. Except this time the lower the numbers, the better for them. They are happy when we are miserable.
Comment by Mark — February 28, 2006 @ 12:58 pm