Reading the tea leaves....

Downtown has been strangely slow. If I look out my windows and see empty parking spaces anymore, I'm surprised. Even in the winter, I was seeing that very seldom. Over the last week or so, it seems like there are always a couple of empty spots. By that measure, we're slow.

Can't quite get a gauge on it, yet. Too early to tell. Outside tables are empty at the restuarants, which makes sense, but the insides don't look very busy either.

The foot traffic seems strangely subdued.

If it wasn't for the fact that Linda's store has been kicking ass, I'd think it was the hot weather. Maybe it is -- she has a drive up location, I have a get out of the car and trudge a few blocks location.

Like I said, tea leaves.

Meanwhile, I had my first customer mention that he lost his job because his employer, a concrete guy, has gone bankrupt. It's hearsay, so I won't mention the name of the company.

Another customer/friend mentioned that his 'main' guy, who had been through the 1980's recession wasn't taking on anymore residential work; and that the other contractor he was working for had decided not to build the next 3 townhouses in a development until the first three had sold.

He also said, a sub-contractor friend of his was selling his van because his hours had been cut from 60 hours a week to 40 hours a week. This also confirms what I thought was probably going on -- that we aren't hearing about many layoffs despite half as many houses being started, because people had been working overtime. But it also confirms my feeling that people spend at the overtime levels....

These kinds of snippets of information usually don't start appearing until well into the cycle. So, I suspect, there is a lot going on, but we won't start hearing about it for a few more months. So far, we're getting a grudging admission that not all is rosy....