Beating A Dead Horse

This won't come as news to anyone, but here is another depressing chart on the economy from the Dallas Federal Reserve:




"Over the three months ending in December, the Texas Leading Index experienced its sharpest decline since its inception in January 1981 (Chart 1). All eight of the indicators gave negative signals, with the steepest drops coming from the increase in the Texas export-weighted value of the dollar and declines in the stock index of Texas-based companies. In addition, the Texas Business-Cycle Index was revised downward, indicating Texas likely entered a recession sometime in the second half of 2008."

Full report is here.

Regional Economic Outlook

The Dallas Fed just released its August 2008 regional economic outlook. It looks like even the booming Energy industry isn't enough to stop the spread of the economic slowdown.

The Texas economy slows to its lowest growth rate since 2003.



Employment growth also slows down - not negative yet like the overall U.S.



Housing prices held up much better than the rest of the U.S. but are starting to roll over.