In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish discuss:
- The GDP Surprise
- Is the economy stalling?
- Housing
- Is there reason for optimism?
Chris and Mish weigh in on the surprising negative GDP growth seen in Q4. Lots of noise in that data, as we've been animatedly discussing here.
The short story: Expect higher taxes in 2013 to act as a drag on consumer and corporate earnings. Also, expect further manipulation of the 'fudge-factor" deflator to make things look better for the headline numbers.
Mish and Chris also wade into the housing 'recovery' data (another topic the site currently has an active exploration happening on).
As probably comes as little surprise, they are quite skeptical of the positive media reports and think it unwise to expect dramatic price appreciation from here. Particularly while real interest rates remain negative.
Both Mish and Chris are seeing similarities now between the run up in housing prices from '04-'07 and the current inflated prices in the equity markets.
by astroalice