Blackstone Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder Stephen Schwarzman shares his thoughts on the 2024 economic outlook, commercial real estate, capital markets activity, and the downside risks of AI.
of us economy It grew faster than expected by the end of 2023, underscoring its resilience in the face of still-high inflation and steep interest rates.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, increased 3.3 times.% The Commerce Department released its first set of statistics Thursday on an annualized basis for the three-month period from October to December.
This is well above the 2% growth forecast by economists in Refinitiv, but is markedly lower than the 4.9% growth recorded in the third quarter.
“GDP has four cylinders, and the fourth quarter fired up all of them,” said Robert Frick, business economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “Experts are already saying this could not have been better, but then again, most people predicted a recession last year, but it never arrived. ”
Despite experts predicting the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hike campaign would push the economy into recession, the economy has proven surprisingly resilient. However, there are signs that the economy is finally starting to slow down as monetary policy tightens.
Employment growth is slowing. The housing market, which is vulnerable to rising interest rates, has fallen into a long-term slump, and there are signs that personal consumption is cooling down.
Inflation fight faces 'difficult' last mile
Many economists expect the economy to cool further in the coming months as higher interest rates continue to filter through the economy.
This is a developing story. Please check back for the latest information.
