[Konovalov]

Great news and growth was ahead of expectations apparently too. 6 tenths of one percentage point GDP is absolutely stunning not.

I still think that the US economy will move into a recession by the end of year. I say this because for a long period of time it has been consumer confidence and spending which has kept the economy moving forward. But consumer confidence has taken a bit of a hit recently. And just look at the banks shop windows. They are all encouraging people to save for a change and not spend.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7375522.stm

"We see very little reason for optimism, however. There are some very troubling signs in this report."

Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic activity, grew at the weakest rate since the second quarter of 2001, the Commerce Department report showed.

It rose 1% after growing 2.3% in the fourth quarter.

"The outlook on the consumer side is still cloudy. There is no assurance that consumer spending is even steady," said Pierre Ellis, senior global economist at Decision Economics.

Spending on residential construction fell 26.7%, indicating the extent of the slowdown in the American housing sector.

High inventories also masked the true picture, other analysts said.

Stephen Malyon, senior currency strategist at Scotia Capital, said the GDP figures were a bit stronger than market expectations "but the strength is slightly misleading as inventories has accounted for 0.8% of the rise".

"Final domestic demand actually fell 0.4% underscoring the deterioration in the US economy, " he added.

Hardly confidence inspiring stuff. Uncertain times ahead as no one really seems to know how deep the credit crunch will run and how it will impact the global economy.

Hey Subman, what happened to you replying to that other thread as you said you would? This one in case you forgot: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...=135580&page=2