Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter

Economy Grew Modestly In Third Quarter
The economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest The Economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That's up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers ended up spending a bit less. M...

Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest the economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That’s up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers e...

Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter
The economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest The Economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That's up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers ended up spending a bit less. M...

US consumer spending rises again
Spending rose 0.4% against the previous month, the Commerce Department said, roughly in line with analysts' forecasts. Consumer incomes rose 0.3%. Consumer Spending is watched closely as it accounts for about 70% of the US economy's total economic output. Separate data showed orders for factory goods fell 1.3% in November. The Commerce Department also revised the consumer spending figure for October, from 0.4% to 0.7%, which bodes well for the end-of-year GDP figures, it said. "C...

Americans Boost Spending Heading into Holidays
WASHINGTON — Americans spent at a moderate pace last month, giving The Economy a boost ahead of the holidays. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumers increased their spending 0.4 percent in November. The gain came after shoppers ratcheted up spending by 0.7 percent in October, the most since August 2009. It marked the fifth month in a row that spending rose. Even with the latest increases, consumers are still reluctant to go on the type of buying binges needed to dramati...

Americans Boost Spending Heading Into the Holidays
Thursday, December 23, 2010 By Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press Washington (AP) - Americans spent at a moderate pace last month, giving The Economy a boost ahead of the holidays. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumers increased their spending 0.4 percent in November. The gain came after shoppers ratcheted up spending by 0.7 percent in October, the most since August 2009. It marked the fifth month in a row that spending rose. Even with the latest increases, consumers are s...

3rd Quarter GDP Revised Up Very Slightly to 2.6%
The U.S. economy grew at a pace of 2.6% in the Third Quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis' third and final revision. This boosts the number upward slightly from the second estimate of 2.5%. But really, the change is more one of rounding, as it technically only changed from 2.53% to 2.56%. Although the final number barely moved, some of its components varied from estimate to estimate. This shows that some parts of The Economy did a little better than we thought, while others did ...

Third-quarter growth revised up to 2.6 percent
WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:38am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Economic growth was a touch higher than previously estimated in the Third Quarter, but below expectations as a rise in the pace of inventory accumulation was offset by downward revisions to Consumer Spending, a government report showed on Wednesday. Gross domestic product growth was revised up to an annualized rate of 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent, the Commerce Department said. Economists had expected GDP growth, which measures to...

Cause for Canadians to worry? You betcha
Canada’s economic rebound out of Recession has run out of steam. Canadian real GDP posted a meagre 1 per cent annualized rate of growth in the Third Quarter, The Economy recorded a record high trade and current account Deficit of 4.2 per cent of GDP, and Job Creation virtually ground to a halt in the last quarter. And this despite government efforts to stimulate The Economy through infrastructure spending – which is scheduled to soon end. For a change, the U.S. economy outpaced Canad...

Dean Baker takes a look at the stimulus that isn't there
In the Guardian, Dean Baker warns that the US business press is engaging in some irrational exuberance over the Obama/GOP tax deal, seeing it as a massive stimulus that will make for a strong recovery next year. There seems to be little doubt that Obama sees it that way, too. Or at least he seems to be confidently talking that way--though Baker doesn't talk about him specifically. What he does talk about is that the vast majority of the tax deal merely continues existing law, and such doesn't ...

Jobless claims dip, consumer spending rises
WASHINGTON | Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:18am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. claims for jobless benefits dipped last week and Consumer Spending increased in November for a fifth straight month, reinforcing views of a solid Economic Growth pace in the Fourth Quarter. Initial claims fell 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 420,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday, matching Economists' expectations. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed spending rose 0.4 percent after increasing by ...

Jobless claims dip, consumer spending rises
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. claims for jobless benefits dipped last week and Consumer Spending increased in November for a fifth straight month, reinforcing views of a solid Economic Growth pace in the fourth quarter. Initial claims fell 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 420,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday, matching Economists' expectations. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed spending rose 0.4 percent after increasing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in October. ...

German retailers see sales upturn extending into 2011
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Retailers expect the strong growth in sales during the Christmas Shopping season to be extended into 2011 because underlying conditions are good, a leader of the HDE retail industry association said on Thursday. HDE... BERLIN (Reuters) - German Retailers expect the strong growth in sales during the Christmas Shopping season to be extended into 2011 because underlying conditions are good, a leader of the HDE retail industry association said on Thursday. HDE managing dir...

German retailers see sales upturn extending into 2011
BERLIN | Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:39am EST BERLIN (Reuters) - German Retailers expect the strong growth in sales during the Christmas Shopping season to be extended into 2011 because underlying conditions are good, a leader of the HDE retail industry association said on Thursday. HDE Managing Director Stefan Genth said in an interview with Reuters that turnover is expected to grow by 1 to 2 percent next year even though the association does not have a concrete forecast yet. "The conditions are righ...

British economy suffers growth downgrades
London's financial district at Canary Wharf pictured in 2008. British econo... British Economic Growth for the first three quarters of 2010 was downgraded Wednesday in a fresh piece of bad news for The Economy, which faces headwinds next year from government Austerity measures. Gross domestic product -- the total value of all the goods and services produced in the economy -- grew by 0.7 percent in the July-September period. "UK gross domestic product (GDP) in volume terms rose by 0.7 percent c...

Economic growth ticks up to 2.6%
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster pace during the Third Quarter than previously estimated, driven by stronger Consumer Spending, the government said Wednesday. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, grew at an annual rate of 2.6% in the three months ended in September, according to the Commerce Department, up from the previous reading of a 2.5% rise. Email Print Comment Economists expected the third and final reading ...

Economists: Fed won't raise rates until 2012
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Economists are evenly split on whether the Federal Reserve's current policies are helping The Economy. But they're in agreement on one point -- the Fed won't be raising Interest Rates anytime soon. A CNNMoney.com exclusive survey showed that economists expect the Fed funds rate -- the Central Bank's key overnight interest rate used as a benchmark for a wide range of loans -- to remain near 0% for at least another year. Email Print Comment Only seven out of 25 particip...

Oil prices trade near two-year highs...
Oil prices traded close to recent two-year highs on Thursday, as traders continued to absorb news that US crude reserves fell by more than double market expectations last week. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February rose eight cents to 93.73 dollars per barrel after soaring on Wednesday to 93.94 dollars -- a level last seen in early October 2008. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February, gained 10 cents to 90.58 dollars on Thursday, after touching a similar peak of 90.8...

Stocks open flat
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks opened flat Wednesday morning, as investors begin to pack up for the holidays and prepare for 2011. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and NASDAQ (COMP) all gained about 3 points at the opening bell. Email Print Comment Trading is expected to be light heading into the Holiday Season. But though there's little news on tap for the rest of the year, stocks have trended upward. December has been a strong month for stocks -- the blue-chip Do...

Japan forecasts GDP growth to slow in 2011
The pace of Japan's Economic Growth will halve in fiscal 2011 from this year as a stimulus-driven shopping rush eases and exports fall on a strong yen and softer demand, the government said Wednesday. In its outlook report, the Cabinet Office also said consumer prices will stop falling but will not rise, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Naoto Kan's stated goal of ending Deflation in the year. Recent year-on-year falls in the Consumer Price Index will halt in the middle of next year, the Cabinet ...

Final Q3 GDP estimate: 2.6%
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its final estimate of Economic Growth in the Third Quarter, revising it upward for the second time to 2.6% from an original estimate of 2.0% at the end of October.  The upward estimate of annualized growth in the third quarter comes mainly from personal consumption and business investment, especially in inventory, not surprising considering the holiday retail season’s approach.  Exports also increased, but at a slower rate than in the previous q...

The rise and fall of Nevada's growth miracle
IN TODAY'S New York Times, Adam Nagourney focuses on the grim side of what looks like a positive population report for the state of the Nevada. According to brand new data from the 2010 Census, Nevada's population increased by 35.1% over the past decade. But as Mr Nagourney notes, much of that growth was connected with the unsustainable Inflation of the state's Housing Bubble. And its collapse has led to a highly uncertain future for the former growth miracle. It's interesting that while growth ...

Senate fails to vote on Diamond nomination
As the 111th Congress came to a close, so did the hopes for Peter Diamond's nomination to become a member of the Federal Reserve.  The Senate didn't vote on Diamond's nomination to the seven-member Fed board headed by Chairman Ben Bernanke, before adjourning on Wednesday.  In a recent interview, Diamond said he expected that he'd get the nod again from the Obama Administration to fill the vacant seat.  The White House didn't respond to a request for comment on the matter.  Since h

Unemployment claims fall again
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing for their first week of Unemployment Benefits decreased slightly from the previous week, according to a government report released Thursday. The number of initial claims decreased to 420,000 in the week ending Dec. 18, down 3,000 from 423,000 claims the previous week, the Labor Department said. Email Print Comment Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting 424,000 new claims. The 4-week moving average of initial claims -- a num...

Weekly jobless claims mostly steady
WASHINGTON | Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:34am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First-time claims for jobless benefits barely budged last week, government data showed on Thursday, suggesting the labor market is healing too slowly to drag down the Unemployment Rate. Initial claims dipped slightly to 420,000 in the week ended December 18, matching the median forecast in a Reuters poll of Economists, from an upwardly revised 423,000 in the prior week. The Labor Department reported identical figures a week earli...