As we climb out of one of the longest winters in recent memory, signs suggest a moderate economy recovery continues, according to the editors of Investor Advisory Service. The National Bureau of Economic Research judges that the U.S. economy began expanding again in June 2009. That means a recovery has been underway for 59 months, just one month longer than the average of 58 months for post-World War II economic expansion phases.
Positives include continuing job growth and improvement in home values and building activity. Factories also are showing broad-based gains and increasing activity, while the U.S. economy is taking in more imports, with year-over-year dollar growth of 5.9%.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continues its long-term improvement, despite a revised estimate of first-quarter U.S. GDP showing the U.S. economy contracted at a rate of 1%, reversing the government’s previous forecast of a first-quarter GDP gain of 0.1%. Weather may have played a role in this poor showing, but consumers are not to blame, as their spending during the quarter rose 3%.
In the subscribers-only Investment Comments column, the editors of Investor Advisory Service take a close look at market trends and analyze what the latest measures suggest about the second half of 2014, with insights into how it could affect individual investors. Click here to subscribe to IAS or try a free sample.