Like The Bulletin, if you stay away from the opinion pages the Wall Street Journal can be pretty good read. We’re not anywhere near the bottom yet:
The world’s largest economy may be facing a growth problem.
After a disappointing first quarter, economists largely predicted the U.S. recovery would ramp back up as short-term disruptions such as higher gas prices, bad weather and supply problems in Japan subsided.
But there’s little indication that’s happening. Manufacturing is cooling, the housing market is struggling and consumers are keeping a close eye on spending, meaning the U.S. economy might be on a slower path to full health than expected.
“It’s very hard to generate a rapid recovery when rapid recoveries are historically driven by housing and the consumer,” said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight. He expects an annualized, inflation-adjusted growth rate of less than 3% in coming quarters — better than the first-quarter’s 1.8% rate, but too slow to make a meaningful dent in unemployment.
The WSJ report was published before a new report showed home prices reaching five-year lows, “driven down by foreclosures, a glut of unsold homes and the reluctance or inability of many to buy.” It also comes on the heels of new forecasts showing weak growth economy-wide this quarter.
