“The U.S. economy’s momentum is slipping as bad weather and overseas volatility restrain consumers and businesses, diminishing hopes for an early-2014 breakout in growth,” Jeffrey Sparshott reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.4% in the final quarter of the year, the Commerce Department said Friday, down from an initial reading of 3.2%,” Sparshott reports. “Private economists’ projections for the first quarter are even weaker, with many coming in below 2%.”
“Other recent economic gauges, alongside the downgraded GDP growth, have flashed warnings signs. Measures of consumer spending, job creation, factory output and the housing market have come in well below expectations,” Sparshott reports. “Though U.S. exports were a bit weaker than had been anticipated at the end of last year, they still rose a healthy 9.4% versus an initial reading of 11.4%. The U.S. has been exporting record amounts of petroleum products but merchandise trade fell off in December amid rising volatility in the global economy… Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen told lawmakers Thursday the bad weather might be responsible for recent soft economic data. ‘But at this point it is difficult to discern exactly how much,’ she said.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
momentum?
bwahahahahahahahaha, that’s funny.
Given all the storms in the US, this “softer demand” will only shift product delivery to next quarter, when transportation schedules get back to normal.
Much ado about nothing….
bwahahahahahahaha, you’re funny too!
And you are not.
bwahahahahaha, oh stop Sean, you prankster, you’re killin’ me! bwhahahaha…”momentum”….bwahahahaha!
The jet stream is changing. It’s no big deal. Climate change is just something people make up so they have something to talk about. Now please go back to shopping, our economy depends on it.
Climate change is real – the argument is whether or not that mankind has influenced this change.
The long-term effects of climate change is not only real but very severe. So even if there is a slight chance that it is being caused by us we must act. Anyone who can’t say with ABSOLUTE certainty that there is NO chance that climate change is caused by us and still doesn’t care enough to act, is a psychopath!
Only a psychopath would gamble the future of life on earth for the benefits they can get for themselves today.
If you know any climate change deniers, then remember that psychopaths are not only dangerous to the environment, they may also be dangerous to you and you should treat them as such.
In general it is better to steer clear of people who only care about themselves and people who have no concern for the impact their life could have on other people or future generations. After all, that is the definition of a psychopath!
“In general it is better to steer clear of people who only care about themselves and people who have no concern for the impact their life could have on other people or future generations. After all, that is the definition of a psychopath!”
actually, it is not:
psychopath |ˈsīkəˌpaTH|
noun
a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior.
I guess a sky high US dollar and $104 for a barrel of oil have nothing to do with that?
Most American’s probably do not give a crap about “overseas volatility” aka Ukraine versus Putin. However, we want winter gone.