This chart is indeed troubling and provides a telling insight into why so much of our economy still feels feeble even if some important labor statistics look better.

“With these numbers more analysts will be calling for a double-dip in home prices,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, said in a statement. A double-dip would be reached when the 20-city index sets a new post-peak low, which may happen in the first half of this year, said Blitzer.

Operating a business under conditions of excessive uncertainty is like playing a game when you don’t know the rules. Without rules, it is impossible to develop a strategy or playbook. Business leaders are forced to call a time-out: They remove their players from the field and anxiously wait on the sidelines until they have a better idea how to play the game. Too much uncertainty can create economic stasis as more and more decisions get delayed, retarding commitments to expansion of payrolls and capital expenditures and slowing the entire economy.