Saturday 25 August 2012

UK economy shrinks less, US durable goods orders jump

The UK economy contracted in the second quarter by less than initially estimated. The Office for National Statistics reported on Friday that output fell 0.5 percent in the second quarter compared to the initial estimate of 0.7 percent. It was still the biggest drop since the first quarter of 2009.

Smaller falls in construction and industrial output were behind the upward revision.

There were some ominous signs for industrial activity in the US though.

Another economic report on Friday showed that US durable goods orders jumped 4.2 percent in July. However, this was mainly driven by a jump in transportation orders, with civilian aircraft orders in particular surging 53.9 percent.

Excluding transportation, orders fell 0.4 percent in July, the second straight monthly decline. Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, an indication of business investment plans, fell 3.4 percent after having fallen 2.7 percent in June.

1 comment:

alternative investments said...

When the best you can say is that our economy shrank by less then expected, well, that's not a good sign. With our debt to GDP of 500%, we are in for a decade of low to no growth.

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