Real GDP grows at 7.2% in third quarter

[zoidberg]

Seems like there have been good signs like that coming out for awhile, but I don't think we're out of the woods yet. Most of the increase came from the tax cuts, which we can't exactly keep doing every quarter to keep the economy growing. But hopefully that will be enough stimulus to get the job market back to where it should be. The new unemployment numbers next Friday will be interesting to see.

http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/gdpnewsrelease.htm

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2003,
according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real
GDP increased 3.3 percent.

The Bureau emphasized that the third-quarter "advance" estimates are based on source data that are
incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see the box on page 3). The third-quarter
"preliminary" estimates, based on more comprehensive data, will be released on November 25, 2003.

The major contributors to the increase in real GDP in the third quarter were personal consumption
expenditures (PCE), equipment and software, residential fixed investment, and exports. The
contributions of these components were partly offset by a negative contribution from private inventory
investment.

[loudnclear]

1. FOX NEWS and CNN will be running this into the ground until next week

when the economy facts that matter hit the street.

[CMT]

2. its the jobless numbers which count

and if there is no real improvement there in the coming months then Bush will still have problems. Time will tell.

[tom_paine]

10. Not in Bushevik Imperial Amerika

Poeple don't count here in the Empire. Cash does.

Lies do also, when laundered by and for the Busheviks.

[eleny]

3. I heard it is due to the military spending...

and Halliburton. Last night, I was listening to the radio. I had the AM station on that carries O'Reilly and other conservative hosts. The news talked about how the good numbers were coming out this morning. But it was not the general economy. If the military related companies were taken out of the equation, the report would have been dismal.

I don't know how to check this. But it won't matter. They'll spin it like a top. Now I think I know why they absolutely had to have that 87B immediately and no loans.

[zoidberg]

5. Military spending was unchanged in third quarter

Click on the link I provided. Military spending caused much of the growth last quarter, not this quarter.

[Brian Sweat]

7. We have a $10.4 trillion economy.

7.2% growth would be $748.8 billion for a year or $187.2 billion for a quarter. I don't think that defense spending was increased that much for the third quarter. I could be wrong. Does anyone have any information on how much defense spending has been increased. A sudden increase in spending of about $40 billion or so could account for a huge part of this increase.

[livinontheedge]

13. With that GDP growth will come increases in tax revenues.

Hopefully, Bush will give a big chunk of that money to the states and the poor/elderly. Yeah, like that's gonna happen.

[ugarte]

4. Interesting the stock market has barely moved today

Obviously these stats leaked out to the big boys a couple of weeks ago. Just another reason how the market is stacked against the average person.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. There's Nothing Unique About That....

Buy on the rumor.....


Sell on the news.....

[cosmicdot]

6. "consumers spent with abandon ...

... and businesses ramped up investment"

I missed out again. I was abandoned in the 80s. Anyhoo...
this article's title goes all out with Roaring 20s abandon:

"Economy Grows at Fastest Pace Since 1984"

October 30, 2003 09:08 AM EST


WASHINGTON - The economy grew at a blistering 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter in the strongest pace in nearly two decades. Consumers spent with abandon and businesses ramped up investment, compelling new evidence of an economic resurgence.

The increase in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy's performance, in the July-September quarter was more than double the 3.3 percent rate registered in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The 7.2 percent pace marked the best showing since the first quarter of 1984. It exceeded analysts' forecasts for a 6 percent growth rate for third-quarter GDP, which measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States.

"This is a gangbuster number. Everything came together for the economy in the third quarter," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. "The key challenge now is jobs," he said.

~snip~

http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=1&aid=D7UGHMUO0_story

in other biz news

Judge to Order Liquidation of Midway
RALEIGH, N.C. - A federal bankruptcy judge said Thursday he would order the liquidation of the assets of Midway Airlines, a regional carrier for US Airways that had fought to stay in business despite mounting financial problems for two years.

Martha Stewart Living Loses $3.84M in 3Q
NEW YORK - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., which continues to be dragged down by the legal woes of its founder and namesake, swung to a loss in the third quarter, though it was much less in the red than Wall Street analysts expected.

Exxon Mobil Profits Rise 38 Percent :shrug:
DALLAS - Higher oil and gas prices helped lift third quarter profits at Exxon Mobil Corp. by 38 percent, but the oil giant still fell short of Wall Street's expectations for the July-September period.

Newell Rubbermaid Reports Slight Drop
ATLANTA - Consumer products maker Newell Rubbermaid Inc. cited flat sales and the impact of reducing inventory as it reported a 1 percent drop in third-quarter earnings, missing Wall Street expectations by a penny.

Duke to Cut 2,000 Jobs As Earnings Plunge
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Duke Energy Corp., reporting a 79 percent drop in its third-quarter profit, on Thursday said it was cutting about 2,000 jobs and was lowering its earnings expectations for the rest of the year.

Deutsche Bank Posts $673M 3Q Profit another suspicious player does extremely well

FRANKFURT, Germany - Deutsche Bank posted a third-quarter profit of euro576 million ($673 million), reversing year-earlier losses as deductions for the bad loans that have hit big German banks dwindled.

Tokyo Stocks Sink for 1st Time in 5 Days
TOKYO - Tokyo stocks retreated Thursday, snapping a four-day rally on profit-taking. The dollar was higher against the yen.

Fannie Mae Reports $1.2B Accounting Error that's $1,200,000,000.00 in today's computer age

WASHINGTON - A newly disclosed $1.2 billion accounting error at Fannie Mae comes as a new jolt affecting players in the multitrillion-dollar home mortgage market. A federal regulator said it shows the need for close government scrutiny of the largest...

Volkswagen Earnings Fall 51% in Quarter that's a lot
German automaker Volkswagen said Wednesday that earnings fell 51% in the third quarter. It blamed the strong euro and charges for cutting jobs in Brazil.

Fannie Mae Miscalculated Assets By $1 Billion
Mortgage investment giant Fannie Mae on Wednesday told federal securities regulators that the company miscalculated by more than $1 billion the value of its assets at the end of the July-September quarter.

Ex-Tyco Exec: CEO Said Loan Program OK'd
NEW YORK -- Former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski said a key company board member had approved the forgiveness of nearly $100 million in housing loans -- including almost $33 million for Kozlowski himself -- the firm's former chief of human ...

Southwest Move Puts Low-Fare Airlines In Direct Competition
Southwest Airlines' May arrival in Philadelphia could be bad news not only for high-cost US Airways, but also for two rival discounters, AirTran and JetBlue.

American Seeks to Boost Its Efficiency
DALLAS - American Airlines Inc.'s largest-ever schedule reshuffling begins Saturday. The goal is to top rival Southwest Airlines Co. in efficiency by the time the changes are complete next summer.

McDonald's Offers to Help Franchisees Rebuild
CHICAGO - McDonald's Corp. on Wednesday agreed to provide at least $500,000 in financial aid to owner-operators who are expected to rebuild their restaurants when their franchises expire, reversing earlier plans to make operators pay the full cost.

Boeing's Drop in Net Income Better Than Expected
CHICAGO - Strong growth in Boeing Co.'s defense business sent the company's earnings higher than expected despite a dismal quarter for its commercial airplane unit.

http://start.earthlink.net/channel/NEWS/bus?cat=1

[kcwayne]

8. It would be marvelous if it were true, but

I work in a engineering environment that is in the process of being outsourced to China, so my day to day experience is abysmal. I have to either change careers (at 50) or convince my family they would like living in Calcutta, assuming the Indian government would give me a work permit, which I doubt.

Most of the people that I hang around with at the golf course are small business owners, and I haven't heard one of them say that prospects are up. They are all cutting back, laying off, and hoping for a miracle. The best that they will say is that business sucks.

Whatever the spin doctors want to make out of the GDP numbers, they will. Bottom line is no one is hiring, and everyone is deeply concerned about their financial survival. That does not smell like a recovery to me.

[Loonman]

9. War profits

Wars are always profitable.

Plus, Halliburton is pumping out Iraqi oil and selling it back to Iraqis at a 150-200% markup.

[CWebster]

11. Question

"..the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States"

Do they literally mean within the US or US businesses who maintain a US address but are increasingly moving operations offshore?

[zoidberg]

14. In the US

My understanding is that anything produced inside our border. If Toyota opens a plant in Tennessee, the cars they produce go to our GDP (but probably not the profits). If a foreign citizen works in the US, that goes to our GDP too.

I'm really not sure how profits going to Americans from assets held overseas goes into GPD. But foreigners own much more American assets than Americans own foreign assets, so I don't think it really matters that much at the bottom line.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. If the economy actually rebounds Kerry will be the only clear alternative

since it will isolate foreign policy as the most important issue, and Kerry (and Clark) are the only ones clearly superior to Bush in that regard.