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Economy

Today’s recession roundup

GDP down .5 percent in third quarter. From Marketwatch: “It’s the weakest quarterly growth rate since the first quarter of 2001. The economy grew 2.8% in the second quarter. … For the current quarter, economists are predicting a sharp decline in the neighborhood of 6.0%. This would be the biggest drop since the early 1980s. ”

Housing prices, sales plunge. From the Wall Street Journal: “Sales of existing homes, which include single-family homes and condos, fell 8.6% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.49 million units in November, a 10.6% drop from a year ago, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, sales of existing single-family homes plunged 8.0% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million in November from 4.37 million in October, representing the lowest sales activity since July 1997.”

Consumer confidence up a notch because of falling prices. From Reuters: “The index was above economists’ expectations of 58.6, according to the median of forecasts in a Reuters poll. December’s final reading was the highest since 70.3 in September, and was also above the preliminary index reading, released on December 12, which was 59.1.”

States halting infrastructure projects. From the New York Times: “The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has identified 5,000 transportation projects nationwide that lack the dollars to proceed. … More than 40 states are struggling with revenue shortfalls, and lawmakers across the country are cutting, taxing and pleading their way toward solvency. Fixing bridges, expanding highways and other infrastructure projects have faced the same fate as government entitlement programs, state jobs and other items.”

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Tom Mangan posted at 10:03 am December 23rd, 2008 |

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