by John Carney
Breitbart.com
Economic Growth Rips Higher Than Expected
Economic growth picked up more than expected in the spring, not only undermining the case for rate cuts but also raising the possibility that the Federal Reserve still has not done enough to cool the economy off to bring inflation down to its two percent target.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis said Thursday that real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the second quarter. That is twice the pace of the 1.4 percent recorded in the first quarter of the year and significantly stronger than the two percent consensus forecast.
Consumer spending, the engine of the U.S. economy, rose at a 2.3 percent annual rate in the April through June period, matching the rate of growth in the first quarter and defying expectations for a slowdown. This contributed about 1.6 percentage points to growth.