KATRINA PREDICTIONS WRONG AGAIN!

So Hurricane Katrina was going to throw us into a recession the likes of which haven't been seen before. Not.

Storms Fail to Hamper Economic Activity

Many parts of the country managed to log decent economic activity in September and early October even amid the soaring energy prices and other repercussions from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Federal Reserve's survey released Wednesday provided the latest snapshot of business conditions nationwide in the aftermath of Katrina, the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history, and Rita.

"Economic activity continued to expand ... Most districts described the pace of activity as moderate or gradual," according to the Fed survey.

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The Commerce report said that construction of new homes and apartments rose by 3.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.11 million units, the fastest pace since last February.

Analysts had been forecasting that housing construction would decline by 1.7 percent in September, believing that increases in mortgage rates would finally start to cool the red-hot housing market.

They were also surprised that the area of the country with the biggest increase in activity was the South, the area that was hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"Not even Mother Nature can slow the housing market," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, a private consulting firm.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 20 points in late
morning trading.