FORECASTERS MORE UPBEAT THAN BUYERS IN MAY.Byline: John D. McClain Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency.Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Although consumer confidence waned a bit in May, many professional forecasters remain upbeat about the economy, saying it will escape a recession at least through next year. And despite rising mortgage rates, sales of previously owned homes rose 0.5 percent in April to the second highest level on record, a real estate trade group reported Tuesday. The unexpectedly strong housing report renewed concerns in financial markets that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates to slow the economy and avoid fueling inflationary in·fla·tion·ar·y adj. Of, associated with, or tending to cause inflation: inflationary prices; inflationary policies. Adj. 1. pressures. Both stock and bond prices fell, with the Dow Jones industrial average Dow Jones Industrial Average The best known U.S. index of stocks. A price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks, primarily industrials including stocks that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. down 53.19 to 5,709.67, erasing two-thirds of last week's gains. But the consensus of 38 professional forecasters calls for moderate economic growth and low inflation through 1997. David Berson Dr. David M. Berson is Professor of Medical Science at Brown University. He helped lead the way in the discovery of a third class of mammalian photoreceptors by providing the first electrophysiological recordings from intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. , president of the National Association of Business Economists, released results of the survey of forecasters earlier this month. ``Unemployment will remain fairly stable for the next year and a half,'' added Berson, chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the for the Federal National Mortgage Association. Consumers apparently were not so sure about economic prospects. The Conference Board, a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of business research group, reported that consumer confidence weakened in May for the first time this year as expectations about business conditions, job prospects and income growth slipped. The Conference Board, which conducts a widely watched monthly survey of consumer attitudes in 5,000 households nationwide, attributed the weakness to less optimism. |
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