Tag Archives: GDP

In the aftermath of the federal government shutdown and contentious debt ceiling negotiations, Fannie Mae predicts continued market volatility for at least the next few months. Consumer sentiment toward the economy and the housing market wavered last month, and the expects that to continue into the new year despite low mortgage rates and robust annual home price gains.

The federal government shutdown is center stage in the news and the question that is repeatedly asked is: What impact will it have on the economy? Of course, the potential economic impact will be difficult to gauge because the shutdown has stopped the flow of government data releases until the funding battle is resolved. Luckily, one key indicator remains live.

The nation’s economy grew 2.5 percent in the second quarter, slower than economists forecast, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. Economists had expected the report the third in the series of monthly GDP reports by the BEA to show the economy had grown at a 2.

Americans spent more on cars, furniture, health and beauty aids and at restaurants but were otherwise frugal in August as retail sales went up a disappointing 0.2 percent from July, the Census Bureau reported Friday. Economists had expected sales to increase 0.5 percent.

At the end of the classic ""Miracle on 34th Street,"" Fred Gailey—fresh from proving department store Santa Kris Kringle is the Santa Claus—muses aloud, ""Maybe I didn't do such a wonderful thing after all"" when (spoiler alert) he spots Kringle's cane in a vacant, for-sale house his soon-to-be stepdaughter Susie has dreamed of. Perhaps critics of sequester may not have been doing such a ""wonderful thing"" when they argued that across-the-board cuts would have a crippling effect on the nation's economy because of the importance of government spending's ripple effect. Those critics, of course, had statistics on their side.

Consumers kept their cash--and credit cards--in their wallets in July as personal spending rose just 0.1 percent, while income increased 0.2 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday. Economists had expected income to grow 0.2 percent but thought spending would increase 0.3 percent.

Shrugging off cutbacks in government spending, the nation’s economy grew in the second quarter at a faster pace than originally reported, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday. Second quarter growth was calculated at a seasonally adjusted annual 2.5 percent rate, a sharp increase from the 1.7 percent initially reported for gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of the nation's economy, a month ago. The stronger growth suggests a recovery on track, though the growth rate is shy of the 3 percent trend rate, a threshold generally considered necessary to expand payrolls.

The nation's economy added 162,000 jobs in July as the unemployment rate fell to 7.4.percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Economists had forecast payrolls would grow by 175,000 and that the unemployment rate would dip to 7.5 percent. Average weekly hours fell to 34.4, compared with forecasts of 34.5, and average hourly earnings fell two cents. Despite the increase in jobs, the report could have a major negative impact on the broader economy, as it showed more people with jobs but working fewer hours and for less money.

The nation’s economy grew at a 1.7 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday. Growth exceeded economist forecasts but remained slower than the growth rate needed to add jobs. In the first quarter, GDP grew 1.1 percent and in the second quarter last year, the economy grew at a 1.2 percent annualized rate.

Driven by stronger auto sales and rising gasoline prices, total retail sales increased 0.4 percent in June, down from May’s increase, the Census Bureau reported Monday. Economists had expected sales to increase 0.8 percent. May retail sales were revised to show an increase of percent, up from the originally reported 0.5 percent. The report suggested continuing struggles for the consumer sector, which represents 70 percent of the economy.