Economic News - September 28, 2008

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - 2nd Quarter 2008 Final

• Real Annual Growth Rate: 2.8%


• Previous Quarter Rate: 0.9%


• GDP Implicit Price Deflator: 1.3%

Financial Roadmap: The Week Ahead September 29 to October 3, 2008

Markets this week are going to be driven again by political news more
than economic statistics. Asian markets have opened as I write this and
the dollar is up, oil and commodities have dropped and US stock market
futures are up (though by less than Friday's rise) on the announcement
that, yet again, a deal has been struck on infusing government cash
into the US financial system. Though we can expect markets to rise
early in the week if the «deal» turns to actual legislation there's
still plenty of room for volatility. Major factors will be how quickly
the legislation reaches the President, what exactly it contains when
the public finally sees the full text and, towards the end of the week,
the markets reaction when traders start to realize that there will be
consequences to the largest federal intrusion on financial markets
since Alexander Hamilton.

Rescue May Not Revive Economy

The bailout plan offers a much-needed salve to ailing
credit markets, but it is unlikely to prevent the economy from sliding
into recession.

Bailout Gives Fed, Bernanke Key Roles

The government's planned bailout for the financial sector
is likely to give Bernanke an important oversight role and accelerate
plans to change the way the Fed manages interest-rate policy.

Fed May Get Authority to Pay Interest on Reserves as Part of Bank Rescue Congress's $700 billion legislative
compromise to revive credit markets would also expand the
Federal Reserve's power to manage short-term interest rates.

U.S. Payrolls Probably Declined in September as Credit Crisis Intensified The U.S. probably lost jobs in
September for the ninth consecutive month and manufacturing
shrank as the credit crisis intensified, economists said before
reports this week.

Brown, Aso Strive to Save Themselves, and Bush May See Economic Benefits Embattled political leaders in
Tokyo and London may end up coming to the aid of President
George W. Bush in containing the economic fallout from the
credit crisis as political self-preservation trumps nationalism.

Japan's Retail Sales Grew at a Slower Pace in August as Consumers Cut Back Growth in Japan's retail sales
slowed in August as higher prices of daily necessities
discouraged consumers from spending.

Paulson Says Confident Treasury Bank Rescue Plan Can `Unclog' U.S. Markets Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
said the $700 billion asset-purchase plan that Congress is
considering will help ``unclog'' financial markets and underpin
the broader economy.

Japan August retail sales +0.7 pct year/year

TOKYO, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Japanese retail sales rose 0.7
percent in August from a year earlier, government data showed on
Monday, compared with economists' median forecast for a 0.2
percent rise.

World trade little hit so far by financial crisis 

GENEVA, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Trade flows are likely to slow
this year as consumers worried about the financial crisis cut
back spending and a cyclical downturn bites into exports and
imports, economists said.