Mark Whitehouse, Columnist

Two Charts Show What’s Missing From the Economy

Businesses just aren’t investing like they used to.

October 31, 2016 at 11:30 AM UTC

Mark Whitehouse is a member of the editorial board covering global economics and finance. Previously, he reported on economics for the Wall Street Journal and was managing editor of Vedomosti, a Russian-language business daily.

More capital, please.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

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For all the progress the U.S. economy is making toward healing the damage done by the last recession, there’s something missing: Businesses just aren’t investing the way they used to.

Last week’s report on U.S. gross domestic product offered some assurance that the economy has enough momentum to allow the Federal Reserve to pull back a bit more on its stimulus efforts. Output grew at an inflation-adjusted, annualized rate of 2.9 percent in the three months through September, driven in part by a jump in exports.