Employment
The labor department reported 598,000 jobs were lost in January. This is worse than the expected 540,000 job loss projection and puts current unemployment at 7.6%. Overall, 3.6 million jobs have been lost since December 2007, with half of them lost in the last 3 months. Ouch.
Personal Consumption
The PCE (Personal Consumption Index) reported its smallest gain in 5 years. This puts inflationary concerns in the backseat (for now) as the concern of deflation continues to loom. Dropping prices sounds pretty great, except they exasperate our slower economy as people delay spending in hopes of buying when prices drop.
Mortgage Rates
It was a pretty volatile week in mortgage market, and rates ended only slightly worse than where they began. Bankrate.com reported last week's average 30 year fixed rate at 5.34%.
$15,000 Home-Buyer Tax Credit -- Not Yet
The Senate did pass an ammendment adding a $15,000 tax credit to the stimulus bill and is scheduled to vote on it this Tuesday (Feb 10th). The House stimulus bill (including home-buyer credit) is different than the Senate's, so passage of the Senate's stimulus bill doesn't make it law just yet. The bill will go to conference committee to iron out the details between both versions of the bill. I expect some sort of change to the current home-buyer tax credit, but we won't know the final version just yet, so mosely along with the current $7,500 tax credit in the meantime.
Here's Some Good News for You -- Americans are Savings More!
The government reported Americans' savings rate rose to 2.9% of after-tax income in the last three months of 2008. This is up from 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, and less than 1% a year ago. This is probably not what the government wants to hear because everyone saving doesn't help bring us out of our recession. I, however, don't think its our patriotic duty to spend right now, and am glad Americans are starting to realize the need for saving!
Comments(0)