WALL STREET JOURNAL: …New data Thursday provided fresh evidence that the job market is losing the momentum it built earlier this year, which could pressure fragile housing markets that have been showing signs of life. Separate reports this week suggested that the factory sector, a source of strength in the recovery, now is being hurt by weak growth overseas.
However, recent signals have been mixed, with worrisome indicators following positive ones—such as consumer confidence and auto sales—that suggest the recovery remains on track. Economists generally believe total economic output in the first three months of the year grew at a rate a bit above 2%—slower than at the end of 2011 but significantly stronger than the same period a year ago.
“It’s been the weakest recovery in the post-World War II period, and that hasn’t changed,” said David Rosenberg, chief economist for investment firm Gluskin Sheff… (more)
EDITOR: A sign of the times: How much confidence can one put in a Rupert Murdoch publication, even an apparently straight forward report as the above? The WSJ conservative political slant used to be limited to its editorial pages. Fair enough. But now, given all of the substantiated scandals concerning criminal acivities by reporters and editors reaching to the Murdochs in the quest of selling newspapers in England, we question that News Corporation has an moral compass. We do not regularly read the Journal, prefering The Financial Times.
