Just finished reading this data-packed AP story: Optimism for ’11 pushes consumer confidence higher. It leads with “Americans’ confidence in the economy rose to a five-month high in November, showing increased optimism for the first half of next year.”
Well, that’s a start but remember, consumer confidence was at an all-time low not that long ago in February of 2009. Improvement is good but is the recession over? Some belief, in particular the U.N., that a double-dip recession could still occur.
While not the case in Louisville real estate, national home prices are falling. This leads some to think housing could potentially drag down other markets going forward.
In any market predictions on the future cover a broad spectrum but it’s good to see some actual improvement in the the results.
At the same time, the pace of layoffs is slowing. Initial jobless claims dropped by 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 407,000 in the week ending Nov. 20, the Labor Department said. Claims have fallen in four of the past six weeks.
This in addition to positive early sales numbers from Thanksgiving.
