While some tremendous headlines have bumped it from getting too much attention (like the storms that swept the south last week, or last night’s announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed), a story of significance ran last week having to do with the still-fragile economic recovery. The economy grew at a tepid 1.8% in the first quarter of 2011… representing a fairly dramatic slowdown from the quarter earlier. Here’s the story as it appeared in the New York Times (click to link).
Implications: It will be interesting to watch the jobs reports that unfold over the next several weeks, to see whether this kind of news makes employers skittish. Household incomes, more than any other single factor, will help determine the strength and resolve of the continuing recovery. (Although gas prices are respectable runners-up.)
Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.
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