Communication

As of March 3, 2014, the United States economy grew 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter. There has been some weaker manufacturing along with a downward revision and decreased retail and housing data. On a positive note, there have been increases in customer spending, business investments, and net exports. The biggest downfall was federal government spending which subtracted one percentage point from the total figure.

Gross Domestic Product increased 3.3 percent in the second half of 2013 which helped give some inspiration for growth moving into 2014. Factors including the weather have put a damper on the economy for the last few months but it is still expected to see a 3.0 percent growth for 2014. Weather has sent a negative impact on production and shipments in a number of different regions around the U.S. Surveys from the Dallas, Kansas City, and Richmond Federal Reserve Banks all saw some decreasing in activity in February. Similar reports were given from the New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserve Banks the weeks before. The Census Bureau has reported lower new durable goods orders for two months with poor weather conditions being a likely factor.

New home sales went up sharply in January to the highest they have been since July 2008. As far as trading goes, there is a positive note for better manufactured goods exports in 2014, which will be improving on the 2.4 percent growth rate seen in 2013.

There is a great outlook for jobs that will be opening up. Nonfarm payroll growth has taken it easy of the past two months with 75,000 and 113,000 net new workers added in December and January. The consensus expectation is for roughly 165,000 nonfarm workers added in February. Manufacturing job gains have be fairly reasonable over the last six months and are looking to increase again in February. The unemployment rate is being put in the spotlight to see if it will fall to 6.5 percent in February.

Works Cited:

Moutray, Chad. “Growth in Personal...