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Tenn. Economy "Slides Sideways" in the Third Quarter

 

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. --  Federal officials revised the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading downward today for the third quarter. Growth wasn’t as strong as originally thought.

The official GDP for the third quarter is now 2 percent, down by a half-percent from the earlier estimate.

The Middle Tennessee State Business and Economic Research Center has just released its analysis of Tennessee’s third-quarter economic activity.

MTSU researchers describe the state’s economy as sliding sideways during the quarter. Some indicators were up, some down and some were largely unchanged.

Center Director David Penn says the housing sector is a good case in point.

"In the housing market we saw increased construction and increased sales ...lower inventories of homes. Although housing prices were still falling, this is improvement we haven't seen in the previous quarters."

The report says that rising sales tax collections in Tennessee are a positive sign. Tennesseans bought more big ticket items in the third quarter, including autos, furniture, and appliances; spending that typically signals improved consumer confidence.