Which is to say nothing particularly great. Barry Ritholtz thinks that the revised report on second quarter GDP helped "stink up the joint," but it seems like more of a non-event to me. From Bloomberg:
U.S. economic growth slowed to a 3.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter as consumers, pinched by rising energy costs, spent less than the government first estimated.
Sure, but this is largely what we already knew:
The quarter's gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., compares with the 3.4 percent pace estimated a month ago and 3.8 percent growth in the year's first three months, the Commerce Department said today in Washington.
And if you like to look on the bright side of things, inflation measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index looked a little better than was previously thought:
The government's personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy rose at a 1.6 percent annual rate last quarter compared with a previously reported 1.8 percent rise. The core measure, which Fed policy makers monitor, rose 2.4 percent in the first three months of the year.
Barry has a better case with the Chicago Purchasing Manager's Index. From Reuters:
The Chicago purchasing management index for August came in at 49.2, sharply below market forecasts for a reading of 61.5 and under 50, which denotes a contraction. August's reading was the lowest since April 2003...
"On balance, (the PMI) is a dollar-negative number because it compounds concerns about the dampening affects of high oil prices on growth and supports the view U.S. interest rates may top out at a lower level than previously anticipated," said Alex Beuzelin, senior market analyst at Ruesch International in Washington.
Those concerns are expressed at Econbrowser too, following up yesterday's gloomy (but not unjustified) analysis of Katrina's effect on energy prices.
Elsewhere, the Skeptical Speculator shares the tough-today-but-not-throwing-in-the-towel-yet news from Japan. And while we are spanning the globe, The Nattering Naybob Chronicles provides a handy snapshot comparison of economic performance across the U.S., Europe, and Japan.