WASHINGTON - The uneven nature of the economic recovery was on display again Tuesday with the release of mixed data on pending home sales, manufacturing and construction spending.
The residential real estate markets showed signs of gaining momentum in the new data, while manufacturing appeared to lose steam after a growth spurt over the summer. More troubling, the commercial real estate sector seemed to be in "free-fall," as one analyst put it.
All told, the data did little to help economists assess how fast the economy is growing and whether that growth will be strong enough to generate jobs.
The brightest note came from the National Association of Realtors, which reported a strong gain in the number of pending home sales in October -- the ninth consecutive month it recorded an increase.
The group's index, which tracks the number of contracts to buy previously owned homes, rose 3.7 percent from September to October.
Analysts view the data as a leading indicator of future sales because it charts contracts, not actual completed transactions. But serious doubts linger about whether these kinds of gains can be maintained, especially if unemployment keeps rising and government intervention in the housing market is curtailed. The economic recovery, many analysts agree, is a fragile one.
WASHINGTON POST
