As I anticipated in an earlier posting, today the BEA revised its estimate of 4Q GDP. What I got completely wrong was the direction -- my bad. GDP grew by 5.9% -- revised upward from the earlier estimate of 5.7%. I had thought the number would have been revised downward because of the worse than expected trade data. As it turned out, upward revisions in private inventory investment and nonresidential fixed investment were more than enough to overcome any downward revision due to the increased trade deficit and the lower than expected consumer spending.
So, I take it back -- the economy really was doing well in the 4th quarter of last year. Let's see if we can sustain that growth and if we see an improvement in the employment numbers.
By the way, I will make another prediction: don't read too much in to next week's employment data. The survey was taken in the middle of the snow storms which may skew the data.
So, I take it back -- the economy really was doing well in the 4th quarter of last year. Let's see if we can sustain that growth and if we see an improvement in the employment numbers.
By the way, I will make another prediction: don't read too much in to next week's employment data. The survey was taken in the middle of the snow storms which may skew the data.
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