U.S. Second-Quarter Growth Forecasts Surge on Trade, Inventories
U.S. Economic Growth Revised Down to 2.2% in 1Q
Judging by some big boosts to U.S. tracking forecasts following April merchandise-trade data and revised first-quarter growth, economists have turned decidedly more bullish about a pickup from the slow patch in early 2018.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley raised their projection for second-quarter gross domestic product growth to a 3.3 percent annualized rate from 2.5 percent, while Macroeconomic Advisers by IHS Markit estimates the economy will expand 3.6 percent, up from a previous forecast of 2.9 percent. Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., lifted his estimate by half a percentage-point to 2.75 percent and Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC’s chief economist Stephen Stanley boosted his projection to 4.2 percent from 3.8 percent.