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U.S. Economy: Don’t trust the GDP

Posted May 6, 2008

“Apparently, the US economy grew by 0.6% year-on-year in the first three months of 2008. It’s not great, but it’s not a recession. Meanwhile, jobs data on Friday showed that there were just 20,000 job losses in April, against expectations for a 65,000 fall. So has everything been blown out of proportion? Was the credit crunch really just a storm in a teacup?” — John Stepek

by John Stepek

Baltimore — (TFN): Markets got very excited towards the end of last week.

There was all that loose talk about the credit crunch being over for starters. This was compounded by some better-than-expected US economic data.

Apparently, the US economy grew by 0.6% year-on-year in the first three months of 2008. It’s not great, but it’s not a recession. Meanwhile, jobs data on Friday showed that there were just 20,000 job losses in April, against expectations for a 65,000 fall.

So has everything been blown out of proportion? Was the credit crunch really just a storm in a teacup?

It’d be nice to think so. But let’s take a closer look at those figures…

U.S. Economy: GDP not worth the paper

I don’t tend to pay much attention to GDP figures when they come out. And there’s a good reason for that. They’re not really worth the paper they’re printed on. Read on to learn why.

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Posted by John Stepek · Filed Under US Stocks and Markets 

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