JPMorgan Chase & Co. said today it expected U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to rise by 3 percent in the final three months of the year compared to an earlier prediction of 2.5 percent. Other firms suggested the rate of growth could be even higher such as State Street Global Markets which expects growth for the quarter to reach 3.3 percent.
The reason given for the more positive outlook is that consumers have maintained spending levels. This has allowed companies to add to their inventories on extended demand.
Source: Bloomberg
Ireland’s economy shrank the most in a year in the fourth quarter of 2010 as consumer spending, investment and exports declined.
Gross domestic product fell 1.6 percent from the previous three months, when it increased 0.6 percent, the Central Statistics Office said in Dublin today. Consumer spending declined 0.4 percent on the quarter, exports fell 1.4 percent and investment dropped 2.3 percent. In 2010, the economy shrank 1 percent, a third straight annual contraction.
Bloomberg
As expected, Canada’s third quarter real Gross Domestic Product showed positive growth of 0.1 percent, officially ending the recession in Canada. The volume of imports and exports also increased during the quarter, and the output of services-producing industries increased 0.6 percent. Goods-producing industries however, fell 1.4 percent due mostly to temporary shutdowns in the mining and oil-and-gas extraction sectors.
The Canadian Press
Investors are turning their attention to the Swiss Franc and are using US dollars to fund the purchases in a new round of carry trades. Switzerland was second only to Australia in dealing with the fall-out of the global recession, and its economy is now forecast to shrink less than half as much as the euro region this year – 1.9 percent compared with 4 percent according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“There’s very substantial underlying demand for Swissie, generated by one of the developed world’s largest current- account surpluses,” said Paul Meggyesi, a currency strategist in London at JPMorgan Chase & Co., which turned bullish on the franc Nov. 24. “I fail to see the economic emergency which will motivate the SNB to continue to offset that pressure with very substantial foreign-exchange purchases.”
Bloomberg
