The news this morning is dominated by European bailout news, but we have a “recession watch” figure today. This morning was the Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter in the United States. This is the first preliminary report on Q3-2011 and we get two revisions ahead.
The headline GDP in the third quarter was +2.5%, slightly under the 2.7% projected by Dow Jones. This compares to +1.3% in Q2-2011 and to +0.4% in Q1-2011. If you look at the PCE Price Index, that came to +2.4%.
The third quarter was helped by consumer spending as consumers continued to spend. Real final sales, backing out private inventories was +3.6%.
We have seen several economists raise growth targets during the recent weeks despite a deluge of bad data and despite what had been awful news out of Europe, China, and India.
Could it be that there will be no double-dip recession? It seems possible now and maybe the soft landing is just growth so slow that it still feels like a recession because so many things have not improved. Housing and employment remain in the tank.
JON C. OGG
Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)
Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.
Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.
Click here now to get started.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Editors' Picks
