Disappointing US data – Second quarter GDP not revised up
Disappointing US data out this afternoon. Second quarter GDP has not been revised from 2.5 per cent to 2.6 per cent. That defies what analysts had been expecting.
Remember, those are annualised figures (not quarterly) – so don't compare them against the UK's second quarter GDP growth of 0.7 per cent (confirmed in a second estimate this morning).
Initial jobless claims fell from 310,000 (revised from 309,000) to 305,000 this week. Analysts had been expecting 325,000 – but the numbers were suffering from computer upgrade issues in California. Apparently those backlogs are now dealt with.
That puts total continuining jobless claims at 2.823m, up from 2.788m (revised from 2.787m).