Is our economic rebound for real?
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Is our economic rebound for real?
Jeremy Hobson: Now the stock market, of course, is not the economy — but it is reflecting some very good economic data. And that’s where we’ll start now with our New York bureau chief Heidi Moore, who’s here live. Good morning, Heidi.
Heidi Moore: Good morning, Jeremy.
Hobson: So tell us about some of the data we’ve gotten this week.
Moore: Yeah, the economy is really warming up. Slowly, but it’s moving. We saw housing starts were up in January. People are building more houses. The Philadelphia Fed and the New York Fed have told us manufacturing is up. That’s great for those regions. People filing for unemployment fell. That’s another great sign and it’s the lowest since March 2008. And just this morning we learned that consumer prices are rising, which is a sign of economic growth.
Hobson: So all good news here in this country. But of course, there still is the question of what’s going to happen with Europe, which could be sliding back into recession.
Moore: Yeah, it’s pretty dire over there. They are dealing with maybe the end of the eurozone. So they’re trying to latch onto our success right now and if you remember 2008, it’s kind of a huge flip in the power dynamic. Back then we were trying to save our economy and they wanted nothing to do with us. They said, ‘We don’t want to import your American cancer,’ so now we’re looking at it from the other direction. But now we know it’s a far more global world and we are helping them.
Hobson: They want to have a piece of our success right now?
Moore: That’s exactly right.
Hobson: Marketplace’s New York bureau chief Heidi Moore. Thanks Heidi.
Moore: Thank you.
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