Learning about the economy is not required to learn about investing but it helps to get the basics. One of those basics is that it is not easy to know what is actually going on today, or to predict what will happen in the future (other than the fairly accurate “close to what it was last year”). So when reading about the economy you have to accept that there often is plenty of room in the data to allow for differing opinions. Here is one opinion: Cracks widen in U.S. economy:
“Industry is clearly going through a rough patch” that few anticipated, said Daniel Jester, analyst at Moody’s Economy.com. Outside housing and autos, the Federal Reserve had expected business to pick up rather than decline this fall, supporting a so-called “soft landing” in the economy.
The weakness in manufacturing started with autos, was compounded by housing, and recently has spread to big-ticket capital goods such as technology and telecommunications equipment, Mr. Jester said. In addition, a broad array of manufacturers are cutting back because of an unexpected buildup of inventories this fall that has to be worked off, he said.
The weakness in manufacturing started with autos, was compounded by housing, and recently has spread to big-ticket capital goods such as technology and telecommunications equipment, Mr. Jester said. In addition, a broad array of manufacturers are cutting back because of an unexpected buildup of inventories this fall that has to be worked off, he said.
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“For all of 2008, GDP rose 1.3 percent, the slowest growth since 2001, when the economy expanded 0.8 percent. In 2007, the GDP increased by 2 percent…”