Blip or blight?

摘要

For the world's largest economy, 2015 has been a series of disappointments. In March builders began construction on just 944,000 new homes, well short of the million or more that had been expected. In April the number of people out of work and claiming benefits exceeded economists' predictions. And on May 29th official data, which had previously suggested the economy had grown by 0.2% at an an-nualised rate in the first quarter, were revised to show a contraction of 0.7%. Consumption slowed, investment slid 2.8% and exports dropped by 7.6%.