It's really amazing. Our economy is growing at over 4 percent real growth and in the midst of that we have barely any inflation. Quite unprecedented.

It's way too premature to talk about a recovery.

Keep in mind, consumer confidence is tied to your job.

I think the Fed is erring on the side of caution, as a central bank should. That's why they left the direction in place. It could be this time they're holding tight too long. We'll know that only in hindsight, as unfortunate as that is.

On a year-on-year basis, before this number was released, housing starts are down 11 percent. So you can see they've gently rolled over, showing higher interest rates are taking their toll on some parts of the housing industry.

Keep in mind that export orders are a big part of this and since Asia has turned, so has manufacturing turned.