Tag Archives: GDP

In the last few months of 2015, the economy grew weary, boosting worries that the American economy is losing its spark, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis “advance” estimate for the fourth quarter of 2015.

Although it may be hard to picture the U.S. falling into a recession with so many positive reports on the economy, certain data suggests that the time of darkness could be upon us.

Fannie Mae chief economist and SVP Doug Duncan pointed out that the actuals as far as housing–existing home sales, new home sales, and prices–were either at or very close to their predicted levels during Q1, and mortgage purchase applications have been way up for the last couple of months.

In a first-look report, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent in 2014's fourth quarter, sharply down from 5.0 percent growth in the third quarter. Economists had projected an annualized increase of 3.2 percent.

Fannie's 2015 economic forecast, released Thursday, is less a picture of a purely positive housing market than an expectation of an economy so strong across several key growth sectors that it will propel the national housing market to greater heights than in 2014.

Total construction spending for November fell 0.3 percent from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $975 billion, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Economists polled by Econoday predicted a 0.5 percent pickup.

According to a third reading released Tuesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annualized rate of 5.0 percent in Q3, up from an earlier estimate of 3.9 percent and an estimate of 4.6 percent in the second quarter.

Economists at Fannie Mae are forecasting full-year growth of 2.1 percent for 2014, a full point below 2013's rate of growth, due to the reverse in the final quarter of some unsustainable forces that boosted the economy in the third quarter. However, the group is predicting economic growth of 2.7 percent for 2015.

In a survey of 45 economists conducted by the Wall Street Journal, the panel largely agreed that throughout all of 2014, housing proved to be the weakest link in the economic chain, with weak household formations weighing down on demand and production.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index saw its fourth straight monthly gain last month, climbing to a reading of 88.8. The final index fell in between October's final value of 86.4 and a mid-month reading of 89.4 and was once again the highest level since July 2007.