A market is an argument about an economy
And the lunatics are winning, which isn't always a bad thing. Unfortunately, with $4 trillion in federal deficits over the next decade, we're setting ourselves up for a prolonged recession. Says here that everything's great in the economy and here that it isn't so rosy. The Federal Reserve describes the economy as "sluggish" but the Dow was up 116 points on the news.
My particular concern is that consumer spending is still soft. According to the Fed: "Overall consumer spending was soft in April and May. Retail sales picked up some after subdued sales in March, but most reports indicated that sales remained below the level of a year ago. A few Districts noted that retail sales did not pick up as much as expected after the winding down of hostilities in Iraq."
Posted by Mitch Ratcliffe at June 11, 2003 12:48 PM | TrackBack