Decision ‘08

Good Economic News Today…

…as 4th quarter GDP growth was quite strong:

The economy snapped out of a sluggish spell and grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5 percent pace in the final quarter of last year as consumers ratcheted up spending despite a painful housing slump.

The fresh snapshot of business activity, released by the Commerce Department Wednesday, underscored the resilience of the economy; it has managed to keep on moving despite the ill effects of the residential real-estate bust and an ailing automotive sector.

The economy’s performance in the October-to-December quarter, which followed two quarters of rather listless activity, exceeded analysts’ forecasts for a 3 percent growth rate.

The only bad news is that this officially ends any talk of a rate cut by the Fed (but that was an extremely remote prospect already)…