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Dan Celia: How Will Today’s 4.1% GDP Number Be ‘Sliced and Diced’?

PHILADELPHIA—Nationally syndicated host and biblical investing authority Dan Celia said today that today’s second-quarter GDP number of 4.1 percent has many positive elements.

“By all accounts, this is a very good number, and the first-quarter GDP number was revised upward to 2.2 percent, so we’re off to a great start for the year,” Celia said. “Of course, our goal is to end the year at 3 percent, and it certainly looks like we could be on track for that. No matter how you slice and dice this news, the fact is that this is a very good number; it’s hard to put a negative spin on it.

“Now, many will try to decipher how much of this is due to tax cuts, corporate enthusiasm or other ‘one off’ things,” he added. “But one number that was a part of this was consumer spending. Consumer buying is 4 percent, which is an incredibly high number, even a little higher than expected, and that is very good. This indicates that there is corporate enthusiasm, and some of it has to be credited to tax cuts, no doubt about it. The consumer spending part of this is very exciting news, if that can continue.

“The question is,” Celia continued, “can we now put a bit of closure to some tax and tariff issues, as we’ve already started to do, and continue that for the next few weeks? And it looks like we could even start to think about getting a NAFTA deal, which would be very good for the underlying fundamentals of the economy.”

Celia discusses these and other global and economic headlines on his daily, three-hour “Financial Issues” program, heard on about 650 radio stations nationwide and reaching millions of households through several TV networks.

Read more about Celia, FISM and “Financial Issues” or visit the FISM website, its Facebook page, on YouTube at Financial Issues with Dan Celia or on Twitter @financialissues; download the FISM app here.

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