US Economy Unexpectedly Accelerated to 2.4% Growth Rate in Q2
Driving last quarter's growth was a burst of business investment, which surged at a 5.7% annual pace, the fastest rate since late 2021. read more >
Driving last quarter's growth was a burst of business investment, which surged at a 5.7% annual pace, the fastest rate since late 2021. read more >
Even though the Fed is poised to raise its key rate on Wednesday for the 11th time since March 2022, to its highest point in 22 years, no one is panicking. read more >
Despite the uptick, the government's third and final report on January-March economic growth still marked a deceleration from the 2.6% annual rate from October through December and the 3.2% growth from July through September. read more >
The warnings have been sounded for more than a year: A recession is going to hit the United States. If not this quarter, then by next quarter. Or the quarter after that. Or maybe next year. read more >
The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a 1.1% annual rate last quarter. read more >
The business economists expect the U.S. economy to grow a mediocre 1.2% this year, though that would be higher than the 0.8% growth they predicted in the NABE's February survey. read more >
While hiring remained strong in April, the government lowered its hiring figures for February and March. read more >
Prices increased 0.4% from March to April, the government said Wednesday, up sharply from a 0.1% rise from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, prices climbed 4.9%, down slightly from March's year-over-year increase. read more >
About 46% of all banks said they had raised standards for business loans known as commercial and industrial loans, up from just under 45% in the previous quarter. read more >
The decline in sales adds to other recent evidence that the economy is cooling as consumers grapple with higher interest rates and the impact of a year-long bout of elevated inflation. read more >
The IMF now envisions growth this year of 2.8%, down from 3.4% in 2022 and from the 2.9% estimate for 2023 it made in its previous forecast in January. read more >
Banks have been slow to pass along better interest rates on traditional accounts to consumers, prompting a shift to money market funds, government bonds or other more lucrative investments. read more >
The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 2.7% annual rate last quarter. read more >
Powell's comments raise the possibility that the Fed will increase its key interest rate by a half-percentage point at its next meeting March 21-22, after having carried out a quarter-point hike in early February. read more >
Fifty-eight percent of 48 economists who responded to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics envision a recession sometime this year, the same proportion who said so in the NABE's survey in December. read more >
Defying high inflation and sharp interest rate hikes, Americans keep spending — a trend that, if sustained, could keep the economy humming just enough to help avoid a much-predicted recession. read more >
It now expects the world economy to grow 2.9% this year. That forecast is better than the 2.7% expansion for 2023 that the IMF predicted in October. read more >
A change in its statement, if there is one, could be seen as signaling an eventual pause in the Fed's aggressive drive to raise borrowing costs. read more >
Most economists think the economy will slow further in the current quarter and slide into at least a mild recession by midyear. read more >
The bank reported slowing activity in its commercial loan pipeline, which it attributed to "softening prospects of economic growth." read more >
