On Thursday, an important bit of news came out that you may have missed: The U.S. Commerce Department sharply revised upward its second-quarter GDP estimate.
That revised number proves that, despite recent market turbulence, the U.S. economy remains on solid ground.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported today (Thursday) that U.S. GDP grew faster in Q2 2015 than first thought, thanks to solid domestic demand.
The Commerce Department's second GDP report showed that gross domestic product expanded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.7%.
That data likely has the Fed rethinking when to move on interest rates...
Sit down before you read this...
It's going to make your head spin and, worse, change the way you think about what's real in America.
Christmas came early this year, for the market that is, by way of a gift from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
However, this branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce didn't put its gift under anybody's tree. They put it over all of us.
The gift was headline news that the "third revision" of the third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) number showed the U.S. economy grew at a whopping 5% annualized rate, not the 3.9% rate posted in the "second revision."
That sounds like good news, right?
For the first time since the Great Recession, the nation's gross domestic product contracted in the fourth quarter, declining 0.1% and falling well short of expectations, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
GDP, the broadest measure of the nation's economic health, had climbed 3.1% in the third quarter. The consensus for Q4 GDP was 1% growth.
The first decrease in GDP in 3 1/2 years resulted largely from a steep decline in military spending with sequestration looming and lower company inventories as businesses curtailed investments and expansions amid fiscal cliff fears and higher taxes.
Some economists also pointed to Superstorm Sandy, budget battles and debt ceiling debates as additional culprits.
"It's hard to see the economy really kicking into higher gear until we're further down the line and have more of a chance to digest tax increases and the spending cuts that are coming,"
Moody Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said in a call with reporters.
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