Washington, May 5 (Bloomberg) -- The slowest six months of U.S. economic growth since the last half of 2001 is unlikely to convince Federal Reserve policy makers that they should lower interest rates tomorrow, economists said.
The economy grew at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year after a 1.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter. Consumer spending from January through March matched the weakest rate since the first quarter of 1993. Companies eliminated 48,000 jobs in April, bringing the three-month loss to 525,000. Unemployment, at 6 percent, matched the highest since August 1994.
It's too early to tell whether those figures represent reactions to the Iraq war or an underlying problem in the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told members of Congress last week. Greenspan said he still expects growth to accelerate, without providing a specific forecast.
``My sense is that the chairman is of the mind that we are going to have the recovery going forward and doesn't want to act too preemptively if it isn't necessary,'' said Eric Engen, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and former senior Fed economist. ``He certainly didn't give any indication that he's willing to back too far off his optimistic forecast.''
In a Bloomberg survey, 69 of 71 economists said the central bankers will hold the benchmark overnight lending rate at its 41- year low of 1.25 percent in their policy meeting tomorrow. Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson-ICAP LLC, and Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at CIBC World Markets Inc., are the only economists calling for a reduction in rate to 1 percent.
После трехдневных выходных лондонская Международная нефтяная биржа начала сегодня торги в условиях резкого роста цен на нефть.
За первые несколько часов торговой сессии стоимость барреля смеси Брент с поставкой в июне выросла на 77 центов и составила $24.29 за баррель. При закрытии биржи 2 мая баррель смеси Брент стоил $23.52. Наблюдатели связывают рост спроса на нефть с отсутствием новостей о возобновлении экспорта сырья из Ирака, передает ИТАР-ТАСС//www.news.battery.ru