Terry, read about the expectation of buying a new home (even with very low rates) in the confidence index, which BTW is quite negative ... except "big hopes"
The Conference Board's report showed the number of people expecting more jobs to become available six months from now rose to 19 percent in June, the highest in a year, from 17.9 percent, while the number of people expecting business conditions to improve rose to 23.9 percent from 22.8 percent a month earlier.
``While post-war euphoria has dissipated, falling gasoline prices, low mortgage rates, impending tax cuts and rising equity markets have buoyed consumers' spirits despite sluggish labor markets,'' said Steven Wood, principal economist at Insight Economics in Walnut Creek, California.
So far, consumers are in no rush to spend. In the next six months, 5.9 percent of Americans surveyed for the Conference Board's report said they plan to buy new cars, down from 7.7 percent last month, and 3 percent said they planned to buy a new home, down from 3.8 percent. Home sales boost the economy because people typically spend additional money buying furnishings. |
