Thread: Recession Fear: Service Sector Falls to 7-Year Low

Recession Fear: Service Sector Falls to 7-Year Low

MoneyNews
Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008

NEW YORK -- The U.S. services sector retrenched sharply in January to levels not seen since the 2001 recession, renewing fears about an economic slump, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The Institute for Supply Management's index of non-manufacturing plummeted to 41.9 from 54.4 in December, its largest monthly decline on record and a far greater drop than Wall Street expected. A Reuters poll of economists had produced a median expectation of a slip to 53.0

"The recession has indeed arrived," said Jane Caron, chief economic strategist at Dwight Asset Management in Burlington, Vermont.

A reading below 50 indicates contraction, and bond prices jumped as the figures reinforced investors' conviction that the U.S. economy is already in recession. Stocks sold off.

The employment index fell to 43.9 from 51.8, corroborating last week's dire U.S. payrolls report, which showed the first net monthly contraction in the labor market in more than four years.

Weakness was evident across the board. A measure of new orders fell to 43.5 from 53.9.

"It's another recession marker on the radar screen," said Cary Leahy, economist at Decision Economics in New York.

Analysts said the gloom surrounding the services report justified the Federal Reserve's recent steep interest rate cuts. The Fed slashed rates by 1.25 percentage points in the past two weeks, a rare strong dose of stimulus over such a short period.

A downturn that began in the U.S. housing sector about two years ago has spread to banks, which made many loans to sketchy borrowers and are now grappling with rising mortgage defaults.

Lately, it is the consumer that appears to be throwing in the towel. Still, weekly chain store sales did paint a mixed picture in the latest week, with Redbook Research reporting a 0.4 percent decline, but the International Council of Shopping Centers registering a 1.7 percent rebound.

http://moneynews.newsmax.com/money/arch ... ode=4471-1

There is an upside to recession...fewer jobs.
As there are fewer jobs, there will be more Americans (white, black, and brown) that will be displaced by IAs. More Americans will wake up.
As there are fewer jobs, there will be fewer jobs for IAs.
Forgive me...I welcome a recession.

In the Great Depression, we had the same problem. There was public outcry. The President loaded them all up on buses and dropped them over the border.
People who don't study History are doomed to repeat it? Let's hope so.

In the long run I think a deep recesion or depression will be good for our children. I will take a huge hit, but hey, that is part of the game when you live in a Fiat economy run by a few select world bankers.

Just inspite of these bankers, I would like to see us hit a bottom and would love for the American people to rise up and make this country great again...of course, that is without the Federal Reserve (who by the way, has devalued many dollars I have saved just to cover their butts).