Pinnacle Finance Blog

June 4, 2019

Economic Update – May/June 2019

Strong Economic Growth In Q1 But Slowing In Q2…. The most recent estimate for GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019 was quite strong at 3.1%, up from 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018.  Much of the GDP growth in Q1 was from a buildup of inventories and net export of goods. Many have speculated that the buildup of inventories was related to the prospect of the tariff increases that have made headlines in the past several months. If that was the case then a reduction of inventory should have a negative impact on growth in future quarters.  […]
August 26, 2019

Economic Update – July/August 2019

Growth Slowed in Q2 and Q3 Looks Slower as Well… There certainly has been quite a bit of economic turbulence since our last update in the spring.  After strong first quarter GDP growth of 3.1% growth slowed in the second quarter to 2.1%, based on the first estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  The GDPNow estimate for third quarter growth from the Federal Reserve is 2.2%.  Economists’ estimates for Q3 growth range from 1.6% to 2.4%. Slowing Global Growth Leading to Lower Interest Rates… With growth slowing in the US combined with impact from the trade tariff fight with […]