Cautiously Optimistic Consumers Support Modest Retail Gains; Fed Tapering Will Remain a Wildcard

Little improvement, but the way to journey from point A to point B without tripping is to take one step at a time.

The Investment Real Estate Research Blog

August 15, 2013

Retail sales advanced at a tepid pace in July as consumers maintained a cautiously optimistic stance in the face of mixed economic news. Limited risk tolerance and fragile psyches remain a hallmark of the recession, reiterating that a transition to a consumer-led recovery may still be slow in forming. The positively performing but still-soft retail market will likely weigh on the Fed’s timing as they consider decreasing their infusions into the capital markets. Speculation that tapering will soon begin has already pressured Treasury rates, increasing the 10-year by more than 100 basis points over the last two months. These trends temporarily unnerved the mortgage and auto markets, but rising home values and the strengthening employment market will offset these forces as the “wealth effect” gathers momentum and begins lifting consumption through the remainder of this year.
Total retail sales advanced 0.2 percent in July as auto dealers…

John holds four degrees (law, hotel management, literature & computer science, and theater), two decades of technical education, and has 30 years of extensive work experience in the fields of real estate property valuation, mortgage finance, home sales, teaching, and military service. John is the founder and Broker-Owner of Coleman Tanner Realty 🏡 in Florida. As a writer, John has been self-publishing books since 2012. His latest nonfiction book, The Entrefluential Broker, is a DIY guide to launching your own real estate brokerage business. John’s forthcoming book, STR Conversions, will inform real estate investors of how to quadruple their rental income via his new “hotel hacking” strategy. He plans on taking his lessons to online and offline speaking stages to share his tactics with investors in the second half of 2022. To discuss speaking engagements and workshops, interested parties can send inquiries to john@colemantanner.com. In addition to writing, John has a love for filmmaking that began while studying theater at Miami-Dade College in 1994. John plans on overseeing the shooting of an in-house “reality tv” show for his real estate practice, Coleman Tanner Realty. 🎬 John also aspires to executive produce independent films that will be a hybrid of the film noir + murder mystery genre and something new, futuristic, and aesthetically appealing to modern day film enthusiasts (think, anime in real life meets Sherlock Holmes). He also enjoys romantic comedies and Hallmark dramas; he wrote a romantic novella, Faithfully, available on Amazon (under the pen name of Jack Morgan) - so stay tuned for romance films as well. When he’s not 🖥 online studying film production, AirBnB, real estate, online marketing, or watching movies and his favorite TV shows on Netflix or the tube 📺 for inspiration. 🎼 John also enjoys playing the guitar 🎸 and piano 🎹 in his free time. View All Posts