Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley’s chairman for Asia, warns that because consumers are wary to spend the US economy is headed toward a period of “protracted sluggishness.”

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter, less than previously calculated, reflecting a smaller gain in consumer spending and a bigger trade gap, data showed last month. Consumer confidence slumped in July to the lowest level in a year, signaling that the biggest part of the economy is losing momentum, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment published on July 16.

“The dynamism that we’ve gotten hooked and accustomed to, is just not going to be” there, Roach said.

The U.S. housing market took another step back in June as construction and purchases dropped, and a gauge of the outlook for growth signaled the expansion will lose steam, economists said before data due to be published later this week. Housing’s inability to maintain a rebound is one reason the economic recovery is not gaining speed.

But don’t worry. Change is coming with another Obama “stimulus” just around the corner.

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