Deller's two cents:
Not much news this week from a national perspective, but the November jobs report for Wisconsin caused a stir in Madison: a loss of 14,600 which makes Wisconsin one of the few states to report a jobs loss. While I think the loss is mostly from the negative ripple effect of the significant budget reductions and lower "take-home pay" of most public workers, the partisanship is so strong with the recall effort that any serious discussion of what is really happening and what can be done about it is lost to political noise.
Economic Week in Review: Nice edges naughty on improved growth and housing results
December 23, 2011
As holiday shoppers grabbed last-minute gifts and Europe's leaders continued to search for solutions to their debt crisis, the latest economic reports offered more positive news than negative. Third-quarter GDP's lower-than-expected growth rate was still the best for the year, and leading economic indicators rose for the seventh straight month, while the battered housing market reported progress on a number of fronts. For the week ended December 23, the S&P 500 Index rose 3.7% to 1,265 (for a year-to-date total return-including price change plus dividends-of about 2.7%). The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 17 basis points to 2.03% (for a year-to-date drop of 127 basis points). Third-quarter GDP is revised downwardThe nation's gross domestic product (GDP) surprised economists by growing at an annualized rate of 1.8% in the third quarter, which was lower than expected. Although this was the strongest quarterly gain for the year, it was below the previously reported estimate of 2.0% (and an earlier estimate of 2.5%). The lower growth rate was primarily because of a downward revision in consumer spending, especially for health care services, that was only partly offset by an upward revision to inventory accumulation. Final sales-a gauge of demand based on GDP minus the change in inventories-was a strong 3.2%, the second-largest increase in four years. Growth in third-quarter corporate profits, which was also revised downward, slowed but was 7.5% higher than a year earlier.
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Steven C. Deller
Professor and Community Development Economist
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
515 Taylor Hall --- 427 Lorch Street
University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension
Madison, WI 53706
608-263-6251
"I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left."
Seasick Steve
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