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[Kizen]

The US economy appears thriving away from home and the housing market moving towards the recession. After the national housing boom that started in the late 1990’s, this market emerged as the heart of the economy and its contribution to the GDP has increased year by year, but the recent slump affecting the economy too. But many economists now believe the economy is set to bounce back after this year's mid-year slowdown, especially with the recent decline in energy prices.
Many economists had worried that a drop in home values, and rising mortgage rates, would have hurt spending by consumers, many of whom have used rising home values and home loans to fuel purchases in recent years. Keeping all these factors in view along with inflation the Fed reserve kept the interest rates unchanged. Lower energy prices have also helped to lift consumer confidence and its one of the good indicators for the market sales in the coming months.
All these emphasizing that the slump in housing market may not deteriorate the economic growth as some had feared.



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[patanx]

U.S. stock futures edged lower on Friday ahead of data likely to show slowing U.S. economic growth and after earnings from the world's top software maker, Microsoft Corp., didn't give investors much incentive to snap up its shares.

S&P 500 futures slipped 1.70 points at 1,391.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 3.25 points at 1,749.75. Dow industrial futures declined 17 points.

U.S. stocks closed with gains Thursday, after a fresh batch of earnings reports from household names Exxon Mobil Corp., Dow Chemical, Comcast Corp and others carried the S&P 500 index to its highest close in about six years. The S&P 500 rose 6.9 points higher, the Nasdaq Composite rose 22.5 points and the Dow industrials rose 29 points.

The economic slowdown is heavily tied to the struggling housing market. McGraw Hill is due to forecast a construction slowdown in 2007, the first since 1991, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong hit an intra-day record, while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo ended 0.9% lower.

Shares of Europe's top advertising company, WPP, came under pressure in London after reporting a slower-than-forecast comparable sales growth of "above 4%."
Stocks in Europe hovered around the flat line, with the FTSE 100 slightly lower as pharmaceuticals AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline were the subject of multiple broker downgrades.

Crude-oil futures ticked up 4 cents at $60.40 a barrel, after tumbling $1.04 on Thursday.
Gold futures dipped $2.30 to $597.50 an ounce.