11/22/10 – theGrio & CNBC Market Update

VIDEO - General Motors had its I.P.O. after declaring bankruptcy last year, and earned more than $20 billion...

Nov 22, 2010

Investors had several economic headlines to sift through last week. General motors had its initial public offering raising an estimated $23 billion. This comes one year after GMC declared bankruptcy bankruptcy.Housing starts fell sharply in October, down nearly 12 percent and marked the worst pace of construction since April 2009. And retail sales jumped 1.2 percent in October posting its biggest gain since March.he markets are closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, but investors await reports on GDP, housing and consumer sentiment.

We’ll get a read on the economy with the preliminary third quarter GDP report— which looks at all the goods and services produced from July through September. The advanced report released last month showed the economy grew by two percent, slightly better than the previous quarter.

We expect a few housing reports, starting with the October existing home sales report— which looks at sales of previously owned homes and condos. In September, sales rose ten percent. We’ll also get a read on new home sales for October. They were up nearly seven percent in September.

Are you feeling better about the economy? We’ll find out with the final consumer sentiment report for November. The index was down slightly with a 67.7 reading, as Americans continue to worry about jobs. Consumer sentiment is an important Gauge for consumer spending.