Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Economic Journal - Wednesday, 7/30/2014



 (As of 7:20 am PST)

US stocks opened higher today as an optimistic GDP report caught investors by surprise.  The government reported early Wednesday that the economy grew 4% in the second quarter, much faster than expected and recovering from the first quarter’s upwardly revised decline of -2.1%.  The rebound in growth came as good news and supported the notion that Q1’s startling decline was just an outlier due to a harsh winter and the introduction of Obamacare.  Shares of Twitter stole the spotlight in earnings related news after the social media company posted a blowout second quarter after the bell yesterday.  The stock is surging in early action.  Later today investors will be keeping an eye on the Fed’s next policy move.  A policy statement, due out at 2 pm EST, is expected to show the Fed reducing their monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion to $25 billion per month.  Investors will be looking for clues on when the Fed will introduce its first interest-rate hike.  International tensions continue to keep gains at bay as the conflict in Gaza worsened overnight.  New sanctions on Russia are also adding to the economic uncertainty. 

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