Saturday 25 June 2011

US durable goods orders rise, first quarter GDP growth revised up

Friday provided some positive data for a change.

Reuters reports the latest US durable goods orders and revised first quarter GDP numbers:

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods and a gauge of business spending plans rose in May, easing fears of a sharp slowdown in factory activity.

Durable goods orders increased 1.9 percent after dropping 2.7 percent in April, the Commerce Department said on Friday, with a proxy of business spending also rebounding strongly...

The economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter, the department said in another report, up from a previously estimated 1.8 percent. That marks a sharp slowdown from the 3.1 percent rate in the fourth quarter.

There was also good news from Germany. Bloomberg reports:

German business confidence unexpectedly improved in June, suggesting Europe’s largest economy is weathering the region’s worsening sovereign debt crisis and slowing global growth.

The Ifo institute in Munich said its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, increased to 114.5 from 114.2 in May. Economists forecast a drop to 113.4, the median of 39 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. The index remains close to a record high of 115.4 posted in February.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

But emerging economies seems under strain. China, India are under inflationary pressure.
http://businessnews24hr.com/details.aspx?ID=157 , how things are getting bad for common people there.

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