Posts Tagged ‘unemployment’

The improving employment situation appears to be making consumers more comfortable with investing in home improvement projects once again, particularly for do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. This bullish sentiment along with the increasingly positive signs that the housing markets may have bottomed are all incremental positives for Home Depot.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen increased optimism over improving economic conditions. The housing markets appear to have bottomed, consumer confidence is increasing, and the unemployment rate in July actually improved to 9.4%. These are all positive signs for Lowe’s as consumers begin to invest again in home improvement projects.

We believe the economic environment improved somewhat in the second quarter which should enable AXP to deliver better than expected results once again, but remain concerned about increasing credit losses and declining consumer spending.