Tag Archives: GDP

In a year that's seen promising—albeit unspectacular—growth, economists agree that one sector of the U.S. economy disappointed: the housing market.

Consumer sentiment hit yet another post-recession high in November, reflecting increased confidence in personal finances and the labor market heading into the holiday spending season.

According to the Conference Board, consumers in the latest survey were less optimistic about the labor market outlook, reflected in a decline in the share of respondents expecting more jobs in the next six months and an increase of more than 2 percentage points in the share expecting fewer jobs.

The U.S. economy continued to outperform in the third quarter as consumer and government spending provided a boost to gross domestic product (GDP). According to a second estimate from the Commerce Department, GDP grew at an annualized rate of 3.9 ...

The nation's economy continued to grow at a brisk clip in the third quarter, slowing down from the prior period but still beating forecasts.

According to BEA, the turnaround in the second quarter largely reflected positive contributions from consumer spending, exports, private inventory investment, state and local government spending, and both residential and non-residential fixed investment.

Despite slower growth early in the year and a disappointing showing in August, the labor market managed to add more than 1.7 million jobs in 2014's first eight months, coming in at 300,000 more than average over the previous three years as payrolls kept up a steady streak of monthly gains above 200,000.

With its latest estimate, BEA said the overall picture of the economy was about the same as in the first report, with the biggest differences being in nonresidential fixed investment (which increased more than previously thought) and private inventory investment (which was up slightly less).

The U.S. economy experienced a sharp turnaround from the first quarter to the second, fueling hopes of a rebound as the rest of the year plays out. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.0 percent in the second quarter of the year, according to an advance estimate released by the Commerce Department. Growth came in at the high end of a survey of economists, with the consensus forecast calling for an increase of 3.1 percent.

The latest economic forecast from Fannie Mae shows that the underwhelming performance of the economy in the first three months of the year and a shrinking GDP have significantly dulled the optimism economists once had for the overall 2014 economy.