Bloomberg Businessweek (07/10/14) Michelle Jamrisko; Catarina Saraiva
A survey of Bloomberg economists forecasts that gross domestic product will expand 3.1% from July through December, following a 3.3% gain in the last quarter. This comes as the U.S. economic expansion enters its sixth year. Economists say consumers will be buoyed by stock gains and an improving labor market, and the economic momentum will last into 2015, which could be the strongest year in a decade.
The 288,000 workers added to payrolls in June increased the monthly average to nearly 231,000 so far this year, and job gains would be the best since 1999 if that pace is maintained. According to Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc., “The job numbers reinforce our view that the economy’s struggles in the first quarter were an anomaly—they were a blip.”