Second Quarter Ends With Dow Down 10% and S.&P. 500 Off 12%

New York Times ^ | By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 3:41:49 PM by JohnHuang2

The stock market rounded out its worst quarter since late 2008 on Wednesday with a late slide that spared few blue chips. A day after the broad market tumbled to its lowest level so far this year, it fell a further 1 percent Wednesday after Moody’s warned that it might lower the credit rating of Spain Continues...
The other day, Joe Biden announced in a speech that this summer will be a 'summer of recovery'. I fell off my chair and nearly collapsed on the floor from laughing.

Just a few of the significant milestones Obama's achieved so far:

-- The Conference Board said this week that its consumer confidence index plummeted to 52.9 in June, down ten points from 62.7 in May (the latter was revised downward, underscoring the wonderful 'spring of recovery' we were having). Consumers' present level of confidence dropped over four points, from 29.8 in May to 25.5 in June, and the index measuring expectations over the next few months collapsed by over 13 points to 71.2. Obama swiftly and decisively responded by holding a town hall meeting in Racine, Wisconsin.

-- Sales of new single-family homes in May fell off their chairs and collapsed on the floor -- falling 32.7 percent below April's rate and 18.3 percent below the rate in May 2009 -- you know, before Obama's robust recovery kicked in. The huge drop in sales was more than "expected." Expectors had expected a drop of 18.7 percent, in line with a booming economy.

-- Sales of existing single-family homes fell in May, falling a 'more-than-expected' 2.2 percent below the rate in April. Expectors had expected sales to skyrocket by 6 percent. Sales had either dropped or stagnated in nearly every part of the country -- falling 18.3 percent in the Northeast alone. Obama responded by declaring the U.S. economy is gaining strength.

And just when you thought things couldn't get any better . . .

-- Consumer spending in May rose a paltry 0.2 percent, on top of a zero percent increase the month before. Personal income rose 0.4 percent, but most people chose to save this extra income in order to hurt Obama's glorious recovery.

-- According to the government's latest revision of its revised readings on the economy, GDP grew just 2.7 percent during the first quarter of 2010, down from the previous erroneous estimate of 3 percent, which was down from the previous erroneous estimate of 3.2 percent.

-- Durable goods orders sank by 1.1 percent in May, the first decline in half a year and the biggest drop since August 2009. The media hailed the dismal report as actually good news, if you start excluding airplanes, communications equipment, steel, etc. And the jobless rate is 0 percent if you exclude 15 million unemployed Americans.

-- In another bullish sign, the ADP employment report yesterday showed a 'less-than-expected' 13,000 private-sector jobs were added in June. The expectors had expected employment growth four times faster than that.

-- Meanwhile, TrimTabs Investment Research -- which estimates employment by analyzing daily income tax data -- reported that the economy lost 152,000 jobs in June, reinforcing hopes of a sustained jobs recovery.

-- The CBO's latest monthly budget review indicates the federal budget deficit reached $941 billion just during the first eight months of FY 2010, with revenues falling by $29 billion during the same period as compared to receipts during the first eight months of FY 2009 -- you know, before Obama's robust recovery kicked in.

If we're lucky, by year-end -- after Obama's 'summer of recovery' -- the federal debt will represent 62 percent of GDP (highest level since WWII), an over 50 percent increase over the level at the end of '08, when America still had a sane president. Under CBO's current projections, the national debt soars to 87 percent of GDP by 2020. Under my current projections, the debt slides back to 40 percent of GDP by 2020, at the close of Palin's second term.

Interestingly, the CBO's latest rosy report came out on the same day that Obama's debt commission met, after running out of money. The commission is expected to make recommendations in December on various ways to keep itself from running out of money.

In the meantime, have a happy summer of recovery!

Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"