The main economic indicators regarding the US economy didn’t show much improvement in 2011:
The second estimate of the growth rate of the real GDP in the first quarter of 2011 remained unchanged at 1.8% after the US GDP grew by 3.1% during the 4th quarter of 2010.
The rise in the US GDP was mainly due to increase in personal consumption expenditures, private inventory investment, exports, and nonresidential
Fixed investment; on the other hand, the US GDP growth rate was offset by declines in federal, state and local government spending – based on the high public debt and pressures to cut the budget, these declines come with little surprise.
Another economic indictor refers to housing market: during April, there was a decrease in pending home sales, as its index fell by 11.6% to 81.9; this report reflect a slowdown in the U.S. housing market during April.
The US dollar followed these reports and weakened against major currencies, because these indicators didn’t reflect well on the progress of US economy’s recovery:
During last week, the Euro to US dollar conversion rate rose by 1.9% from 1.4048 to 1.4319.
The USD/CAD fell during the week by 0.2% to 0.9762.
For more on this subject:
- Weekly outlook for May 30 June 3
- Will the recent rally in oil prices last? Daily outlook 26 May
- US initial claims increased last week May 26