This is a return to normal. Not too hot, not too cold. The numbers come barely a week after the Federal Reserve passed on a chance to raise interest rates. The hike would have been the seventh since last summer - all part of an effort to cool down the economy and curb inflationary pressures by putting the brakes on unsustainable growth. It would be difficult to achieve another 5-percent plus rate of gross domestic product growth with the manufacturing, housing, consumer, labor and financial markets all indicating a more modest pace of activity.
Conflicting data exist on how much the economy has cooled down, however.
Two separate reports released Tuesday offered signs that consumers are confident about the economy and continue to spend money. Many analysts were expecting a much smaller increase of around 1 percent. Meanwhile, consumer confidence levels dipped slightly in this month's Conference Board survey, but a larger percentage of consumers surveyed said they planned to purchase big-ticket items, like cars. May. Although industrial production and personal income increased, employees on nonagricultural payrolls decreased in July. The Index of Lagging Indicators, which reflects changes that have already occurred, decreased by 0.1 percent to 105.2.