Dean Baker reduces uncertainty

 
Jared Bernstein had mentioned this earlier

Reporting on the Housing Market: Do We Need Drug Testing for Economists? by Dean Baker

This report should have been seen as very positive news on the housing market. Unfortunately, the economists who missed the bubble still don't seem to know much about the housing market. While house prices are not going to return to their bubble levels (which no one in their right mind should want), they have bottomed out and will likely be rising modestly through the rest of 2012 and beyond. Furthermore, we are seeing higher rates of construction as the backlog of unsold homes has been whittled away in many areas. Housing is now making a positive contribution to the recovery.

Meanwhile China and India slow, causing oil prices to drop.

Chinese Data Mask Depth of Slowdown, Executives Say

Record-setting mountains of excess coal have accumulated at the country’s biggest storage areas because power plants are burning less coal in the face of tumbling electricity demand. But local and provincial government officials have forced plant managers not to report to Beijing the full extent of the slowdown, power sector executives said.

Reserve Bank Holds Interest Rates Steady to Fight Inflation

In spite of growing calls for it to support India’s slowing economy, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday it would not cut interest rates or lower banking reserve requirements because inflation was still too high for it to act.