from 24/7WallStreet:
Q2 GDP: So Weak That A New Recession Now Looks More Than PossiblePosted: July 29, 2011 at 8:47 am
The Commerce Department is delivering some awful news on the second quarter preliminary Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. GDP is coming in at a preliminary second quarter level of a mere 1.3%. Dow Jones had targets of 1.8% and Bloomberg had an estimate of 1.9% on last look. If you put in the PCE Price Index that came in at 3.1% versus a Q1-2010 reading of 3.9%.
To make matters worse, the first quarter was revised down to only +0.4% from 1.9%. The final-final Q4-2010 GDP was revised to 3.0% from 2.9%.
The big issue is consumer spending, which comprises the largest portion of GDP, and it was up a mere 0.1% from April to June. What is interesting is that so many retail sales figures have been coming in well, but the effect of higher food and gas prices for much of the first half of the second quarter may have skewed this data. Still, there is just no way to sugar coat this report. You can add the woes of Europe and the woes of Japan as India and China keep putting on the inflationary brakes, but nothing will make the number sound off in a good way. ..........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://247wallst.com/2011/07/29/q2-gdp-so-weak-that-a-new-recession-now-looks-more-than-possible/#ixzz1TUy9SpGb