首页
登录
职称英语
The US economy should expand modestly in coming months as a healthy job mark
The US economy should expand modestly in coming months as a healthy job mark
游客
2023-12-22
55
管理
问题
The US economy should expand modestly in coming months as a healthy job market continues to trump weakness in housing prices, a gauge of future business activity showed on Thursday.
The Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators rose a higher-than-expected 0.3 percent in May, boosted by rising stock prices, higher consumer expectations and the availability of jobs. Economists said that jobs should continue to be plentiful, despite an unexpected surge in jobless claims last week.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims totaled 324,000 last week, up 10,000 from the previous week, to the highest level since mid-April. While the big increase was unexpected, analysts said it did not change their view that the labor market remains hardy. Even with the increase, analysts noted claims remain close to their average—319,000—over the first 5.5 months of the year.
While the overall US economy grew at a lackluster 0.6 percent in the first three months of this year, many analysts believe the pace has picked up significantly in the spring.
The Conference Board’s upbeat report shows that the impact of the housing slump has been fairly contained so far, said Patrick Newport, an economist with Global Insight. "It just hasn’t spilled over to the rest of the economy," he said. It also indicates the economy is doing better than last month’s leading indicators report suggested, Newport said.
May’s increase reversed a revised 0.3 percent drop in April, down from the original 0.5 percent decline that economists blamed on soaring gas prices and a drop in building permits. The report, designed to forecast economic activity over the next three to six months, tracks 10 economic indicators.
The advancing contributors in May, starting with the largest, were weekly unemployment insurance claims, stock prices, building permits, consumer expectations and vendor performance. The negative contributors, beginning with the largest, were real money supply, average weekly manufacturing hours and interest rate spread. With the latest report, the cumulative change in the index over the past six months has gone up 0.3 percent.
Wall Street is fairly confident that falling home prices and rising mortgage defaults won’t damage the broader economy. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday the housing slump is nearing an end and that the losses so far have been contained. But if mortgage rates keep rising, fewer people will want to buy homes and fewer homeowners will be able to refinance. If that happens, the residential real estate market’s troubles could snowball and dampen consumer spending.
The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee, which sets short-term interest rates, meets next week and is widely expected to leave rates unchanged as they have been for about a year. A pickup in the economy has raised worries about rising inflation, however.
Stocks slipped on Thursday, after the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s report on manufacturing activity in its region jumped a stronger-than-expected 18 in June, up from 4.2 in May. In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell moderately, declining 36.66, or 0.27 percent, to 13,452.76 after dropping 146 points Wednesday on a surge in bond yields. Broader stock indicators moved sideways. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.71, or 0.11 percent, to 1,511.13 and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 1.48, or 0.06 percent, to 2,601.44.
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department said construction of new homes fell in May as the nation’s homebuilders were battered by the crisis in sub-prime lending and rising mortgage rates. Industry sentiment about the housing market fell in June to the lowest point in more than 16 years.
Secondary effects from the housing downturn like layoffs and restrained consumer spending could also start surfacing, said Aaron Smith, an economist with Moody’s Economy.com. But the overall drag on the economy from the housing industry should decline in coming months, he said. "Building permits cannot continue declining at the pace they have," Smith said. [br] Why was there a slump in housing prices according to the passage?
选项
答案
Nation’s homebuilders suffered a great loss in the crisis in sub-prime lending and rising mortgage rates. Industry confidence in the housing market fell layoffs and restrained consumer spending.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3294185.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]Insomeways,childrenshouldbetreatedasmaturepeople.Fo
[originaltext]Insomeways,childrenshouldbetreatedasmaturepeople.Fo
[originaltext]Toachieveandmaintainphysicalfitness,peopleshouldeatabal
TheUnitedStateshasmovedbeyondtheindustrialeconomystagetothepoint
TheUnitedStateshasmovedbeyondtheindustrialeconomystagetothepoint
TheUnitedStateshasmovedbeyondtheindustrialeconomystagetothepoint
Whydoyoulistentomusic?Ifyoushouldputthisquestiontoanumberofpe
Whydoyoulistentomusic?Ifyoushouldputthisquestiontoanumberofpe
Whydoyoulistentomusic?Ifyoushouldputthisquestiontoanumberofpe
[originaltext]WOMAN:Goodafternoon,MrGray.Thanksforcomingtoouruniversi
随机试题
WhydosomanyAmericansdistrustwhattheyreadintheirnewspapers?TheA
We’vealreadymadeitclearthatwewillnot______topressure.A、twistB、shrinkC
Fromthedescriptioninthepassage,welearnthat______.[br]Whatisthemain
TheimmigrantsinAmericaareplayinganimportantroleinthenationalscie
由于石油价格上涨,国家上调了汽油等成品油的销售价格,这导致出租车运营成本增加,司
某建设用地建筑密度限值为30%,受限高限制,地上计容层数只能做到9层,下列关于此
结尾下划线处年月日书写正确的一项是:() A.二○一三年三月三日 B.二
有甲、乙两项工程,张师傅单独完成甲工程需要9天,单独完成乙工程需要12天;王师傅
在建筑安全生产管理中,建筑施工企业在编制施工组织设计时,应当根据建筑工程的特点制
采用邀请招标,招标人应当向( )个以上具备承担招标项目的能力、资信良好的特定法人
最新回复
(
0
)