CNBC Sounding Downright Glum
CNBC:
More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Americans are growing increasingly doubtful about direction of the US economy, according to the latest survey from business-advisory firm AlixPartners
Americans are growing increasingly doubtful about direction of the US economy, according to the latest survey from business-advisory firm AlixPartners.
In fact, an increasing number, some 61 percent, say they don't expect to return to their respective pre-recession lifestyles until the spring of 2014, if ever.
What's worse, a full 10 percent said they expect they will never return to pre-recession spending.
That's a more pessimistic view than last year, when those surveyed expected that they could be back to pre-recession spending levels by the middle of 2013.
"Americans continue to push their expectations for return to a pre-recession 'normal' further and further into the future-close enough for comfort, but far enough away to seem realistic," said Fred Crawford, CEO of AlixPartners. "But as that happens, more and more it seems normal is actually where we are right now."
The latest employment report, which showed that U.S. employers hired far few workers than expected in May, only serves to reinforce these attitudes.
"It's a vicious cycle," Crawford said. "Americans need to see a significant decrease in unemployment to feel confident in the economic recovery, but companies are waiting to see increased demand for their products and services before they begin hiring and making job-creating capital expenditures."
In the latest survey, some 63 percent of Americans said they feel "not good" or "bad" about the state of the US economy, representing a significant increase from May 2010 when only about 49 percent of those polled felt this gloomy.
The survey also found that Americans overwhelmingly expect to delay by at least 12 months major purchases and expenditures such as spending on new cars, home repairs and vacations...
Soft Patch? Economy Looks More Like It's In For Worse
If this is what a soft patch in the economy looks like, then beware the specter of a hard landing.
Perhaps no other profession is as fond of cliches, catch phrases and buzzwords than economics-"green shoots" to describe the first positive signs after the financial crisis; "transitory" for the surge in commodity prices over the past two years; and now "soft patch," the euphemism for the current economic downturn. (And we all remember "irrational exuberance.")
But with the release of Friday's unemployment numbers-coming on the heels of a clear double-dip in housing and prevailing weakness in manufacturing-the soft patch is becoming a hard sell...
Wall Street Baffled by Slowing Economy, Low Yields: Trader
Wall Street is having a hard time figuring out what to do now that the U.S. economy appears to be sputtering and yields are so low, Peter Yastrow, market strategist for Yastrow Origer, told CNBC.
"What we’ve got right now is almost near panic going on with money managers and people who are responsible for money," he said. "They can not find a yield and you just don’t want to be putting your money into commodities or things that are punts that might work out or they might not depending on what happens with the economy...
More Americans Think the Economy Will Never Recover
Americans are growing increasingly doubtful about direction of the US economy, according to the latest survey from business-advisory firm AlixPartners
Americans are growing increasingly doubtful about direction of the US economy, according to the latest survey from business-advisory firm AlixPartners.
In fact, an increasing number, some 61 percent, say they don't expect to return to their respective pre-recession lifestyles until the spring of 2014, if ever.
What's worse, a full 10 percent said they expect they will never return to pre-recession spending.
That's a more pessimistic view than last year, when those surveyed expected that they could be back to pre-recession spending levels by the middle of 2013.
"Americans continue to push their expectations for return to a pre-recession 'normal' further and further into the future-close enough for comfort, but far enough away to seem realistic," said Fred Crawford, CEO of AlixPartners. "But as that happens, more and more it seems normal is actually where we are right now."
The latest employment report, which showed that U.S. employers hired far few workers than expected in May, only serves to reinforce these attitudes.
"It's a vicious cycle," Crawford said. "Americans need to see a significant decrease in unemployment to feel confident in the economic recovery, but companies are waiting to see increased demand for their products and services before they begin hiring and making job-creating capital expenditures."
In the latest survey, some 63 percent of Americans said they feel "not good" or "bad" about the state of the US economy, representing a significant increase from May 2010 when only about 49 percent of those polled felt this gloomy.
The survey also found that Americans overwhelmingly expect to delay by at least 12 months major purchases and expenditures such as spending on new cars, home repairs and vacations...
Soft Patch? Economy Looks More Like It's In For Worse
If this is what a soft patch in the economy looks like, then beware the specter of a hard landing.
Perhaps no other profession is as fond of cliches, catch phrases and buzzwords than economics-"green shoots" to describe the first positive signs after the financial crisis; "transitory" for the surge in commodity prices over the past two years; and now "soft patch," the euphemism for the current economic downturn. (And we all remember "irrational exuberance.")
But with the release of Friday's unemployment numbers-coming on the heels of a clear double-dip in housing and prevailing weakness in manufacturing-the soft patch is becoming a hard sell...
Wall Street Baffled by Slowing Economy, Low Yields: Trader
Wall Street is having a hard time figuring out what to do now that the U.S. economy appears to be sputtering and yields are so low, Peter Yastrow, market strategist for Yastrow Origer, told CNBC.
"What we’ve got right now is almost near panic going on with money managers and people who are responsible for money," he said. "They can not find a yield and you just don’t want to be putting your money into commodities or things that are punts that might work out or they might not depending on what happens with the economy...