Consumer confidence was up for two months in a row, according to the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index~R. The Labor Department reported the unemployment rate down for November (thanks in part to the retail and hospitality industries hiring for the season). In October, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported a slight rise in new home sales, and an increase in housing starts as well as a bump up in permits for future activity. Are we actually seeing a halffull/half-empty glass filling up? The past couple of years will be the subject of many stories told to economics students, junior managers, and even grandchildren. Not only will the subjects be of bank failures, derivatives, a housing market collapse, and foreclosures; there will also be mentions of how retailing changed permanently.
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