U.S. Economy Is Pulling Off Something Historic: CNN

The US economy is on the verge of an extremely rare achievement. Growth in the first half of the year was solid, with the economy expanding at a robust 2.8% annualized rate in the second quarter, according to fresh Commerce Department figures.

America’s economy is about to achieve what’s called a “soft landing,” which is when inflation returns to the Fed’s target without a recession.

These figures are adjusted for inflation and seasonal swings, Bryan Mena reported for CNN.

Stocks surged in the morning after the economy’s powerful show of resilience but later lost steam and closed the day mixed. The Dow rose 81 points, or 0.2%, after jumping more than 500 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.9%.

This comes after the benchmark index and tech-heavy Nasdaq logged their worst day since 2022 last week.

America’s economy is about to achieve what’s called a “soft landing,” which is when inflation returns to the Fed’s target without a recession—a feat that’s only happened once, during the 1990s, according to some economists.

Gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic output, was much stronger in the second quarter than economists had predicted. The GDP report showed that businesses are continuing to invest and that consumers are still opening their wallets.

That’s key because consumer spending is America’s economic engine, accounting for about two-thirds of US economic output.

As the economy continued to expand from April through June, inflation resumed a downward trend and seems to be on track to slow further toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

The latest GDP report showed that a key gauge of consumer demand picked up in the second quarter to an annual rate of 2.9%, matching the rate in the fourth quarter of 2023 for the strongest pace in two years.

A measure of business investment also strengthened in the April-through-June period, Krystal Hur also reported for CNN.