Second Quarter GDP Stays Good
We’ve talked a bit about the economic numbers that came out this summer. In large part this is because the economy is in a transition period. After a seemingly unending drift (upward, but drifting nonetheless), the economy might, MIGHT, finally be sputtering to life. However, economic numbers can be tricky. Earlier this year, the GDP numbers unexpectedly showed a major contraction. Most analysts dismissed this as an abberition due to the harsh weather experienced in the Northeast during the first quarter. At the half way point of the year, the economy looked like it was at least heading in the right direction. When the second quarter numbers came out, they were pretty good, but there was fear that the revisions might not be so pleasant. Revised Second Quarter GDP In order to produce numbers for each quarter without a significant delay, economic reports are released based upon preliminary data. It is accepted that these numbers are likely to be revised later as economic figures that aren’t as readily available come in. Typically, the adjustments to numbers like the GDP are relatively small. Big adjustments are unusual and come with lengthy explanations about what went wrong. The final numbers are issued …