Word: augustness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Michael Englund, chief economist for Action Economics, a bond and currency market consulting firm. "The good news for households is that food and energy prices are falling, although some might see this as a weakness in demand and a sign the economy is slowing." Englund says the drop below August's sales levels are mostly due to extremely weak auto sales, as people have had difficulty getting loans due to tighter credit and higher rates. "Our view is that the current downturn will equal or surpass the downturn of late 1990, early 1991," says LaVogna...
...Housing Starts: Also on Friday, the U.S. Census Bureau releases housing starts, a figure that measures the number of privately-owned new residential homes being built. Analysts predict figures will either level off or continue to drift downward slightly from the August number of 895,000. The upside: "There isn't a lot of room for decline," says Englund. Many experts believe the bottom is near. LaVorgna says it is just a matter of time before the number drops below 800,000, a large plummet from the 2005 high of more than 2 million new homes under construction...
...banks were to open the taps, there are growing questions about whether that could buck other worrying trends. On Wednesday, Britain announced its unemployment rate had jumped half a point to 5.7% - its highest in eight years. Last month the government acknowledged that France lost 40,000 jobs in August despite predictions of a net gain. Unemployment data and generally sagging company results, observers say, reinforce the view that Europe has already entered a recession...
Vanishing Credit One of the main consequences of the financial crisis is that credit will be a lot harder to obtain. That's already happening in the U.K., for example, where the volume of home mortgages approved by lenders fell dramatically in August. Including other forms of consumer credit, total net lending plunged by 86% from its level a year ago, according to Bank of England statistics. Just as Europe's banks were overextended, so consumers in many countries ramped up their household borrowing in the past few years - usually because rising house prices made them feel richer. For policymakers...
With 20 years of work and savings under his belt, Bonduel, 57, feels he can ride out the economic storm. But he acknowledges that his guests' more modest outlays have forced some changes on him. "For the first time ever, I closed the restaurant in August and went on vacation because no one was coming to eat," says Bonduel. "I do the cleaning myself, and to save money we've stopped sending the tablecloths out for laundering and pressing. I also had to let one of the cooks go ... We'll be fine, but we're having to tighten...