Former DNC chair Howard Dean said Monday the economy is getting stronger, in a CNBC interview.
DEAN: Our economy is getting stronger. It may not be going fast enough, but by every measure our economy is getting stronger.
But a number of economic reports in the last two weeks indicate the economy is struggling.
A new analysis by Nicholas Colas, the chief market strategist at CovergEx in New York, reports corporate earnings estimates have dropped to levels below inflation and commensurate with 2008.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's business activity index, which is considered a measure of mid-Atlantic manufacturing, contracted for the second consecutive month, at a rate worse than predicted.
Initial jobless claims rose by 34,000 two weeks ago to 386,000--the largest increase since April 2011.
Existing home sales declined 5.4 percent in June from a month earlier--the weakest numbers since October 2011.
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund and JPMorgan revised their growth projections down.