Reports of this week revealed mixed messages about the housing industry and fewer people are filing for unemployment. But if you really wanna a sign that the economy is making a comeback, it all starts with the jeans. Join me live is MSNBC’s financial analyst Vera Gibbons. Good morning, you know，it's the woman jeans.
And I did it too, a jean skirt.
It is a theme thing.
Anyway, I know you have this listed force,um, when you see the first anecdotal sign is an uptick in jean sales.
Jean denim, which we all have on, right? I mean that's a cheap indulgence, it's an easy way to mix the wardrobe. It's one of the first things people buy when the economy is rebounding, when people are feeling more confident. It's really through the shining star of the fashion industry, I mean the overall clothing sales are down pretty much across the board, denim sales are actually up about four percent, it's an eight-billion-dollar industry. We're spending more on jeans, we like our jeans. And it's a positive sign indicates that we are feeling better about the economy.
That's good, bright ties as well?
Yeah, I mean when you're down, you wear the medium stuff, the neutral stuff, we all know that feeling, right? When you're feeling optimistic, happier, more confident, you go for the bright stuff, the orange, the fuchsia. And ties, man's ties specifically, are leading indicator shows us they're feeling more optimistic, feeling more cheerful about things, and they’re buying one, right?
How does fewer first dates plan to this?
This is a sort of funny one right? A bad economy actually is very good for the match.com of the world. And a good economy is not so good. If you look at the numbers of match.com fourth quarter of 2008 has one of its best times ever, the economy is in the toilet. They had a similar surge after 9/11, and when the Dow hit a five-year low in November, match had its second busiest weekend of the year. So the theory is people like a commissary, misery maybe loves company.
Hum.All right, maybe that is OK. Advance holiday book sales?
This is something… this is a good sign as well. Because you know how it's been, company haven't been having their parties, but we are seeing an uptick in party plannings, in the seasonal parties. That's a good sign, party planners are actually booking on through 2011, 2012. And we're seeing an uptick in catering, I mean catering was the bad word last year, it was really bad. But on Wall Street, there's gonna be particularly seen a little bit uptick, and that's considered a positive sign for sure.
Hey, conversely to the dates, you've got more Americans leaving their spouses?
Right, that would be another indicator that things are actually freaking out as well, because people have been stuck in their marriages. They can't do anything, because they don’t have any money. And home values have taken such a huge hit. So, when you really start to see more people breaking up, that would really be a sign that things are actually improving here, as well as starting to have more babies, more cosmetic surgeries, eating less comfort food, and taking less anti-anxiety pills, I mean we spent 350 million dollars on Xanax last year, a lot.
That's it, you know this is just the interesting survey all around. I wonder who got the going...you know, who needs these economists when you can look around and see anecdotally what's happening around you, right? Well, have you told us all about. Vera Gibbons, thanks so much.
Thank you.
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