With the stock market having its big rally the past few months a lot of people are now predicting a big economic boom and expecting huge gains in stocks through the rest of the year.

But outside of a few economic reports most signs still point to a sluggish economy. For instance the NPD Group said yesterday that spending for video games fell 23% last month from where it was a year ago.

The best selling video game title in May was UFC 2009 Undisputed" which sold just over a million games. In comparison last year's ultra-violent GTA IV sold 1.3 million units in May.

Console sales also dropped 30%.

The industry is still huge and is not going away, but it shows that consumer discretionary spending is still off from where it was a year ago. The recession is still on. Whether or not a boom is around the corner or not is another story, but seems doubtful. Those calling for a new economic boom were saying the same thing this time a year ago.

Remember then the market rallied huge only to drop in the Fall. Investors still need to stick with stock trading basics [1] to make any money in this market going forward.