By CountingPips.com
The U.S. economy’s annual pace of contraction in the second quarter of 2009 was better than expected, potentially signaling that the economy’s deep recession may be subsiding according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The annualized GDP report released today showed that the real U.S. Gross Domestic Product contracted by 1.0 percent in the April to 
June 2009 quarter from the second quarter level of 2008. This contraction was unchanged from the original GDP estimate released in July. Economic forecasts were expecting the GDP decline to be approximately 1.5 percent for the quarter. The second quarter GDP is a significant improvement from the revised real 6.4 percent contraction in the first quarter of 2009.
Contributing to the second quarter GDP fall was a decrease in consumer spending, exports and nonresidential fixed investments. Exports of goods and services decreased by 5.0 percent after falling by 29.9 percent in the first quarter. Imports fell by 15.1 percent following a 36.4 percent decline in the first quarter. Consumer spending, which makes up approximately two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, decreased in the second quarter by 1.0 percent after increasing in the first quarter by 0.6 percent.
Weekly Jobless Claims decline.
Weekly U.S. jobless claims declined in the week that ended on August 22nd according to a release by the U.S. Labor Department today. New weekly jobless claims fell by 10,000 workers to a total of 570,000 unemployed workers. The decrease in claims failed to surpass economic forecasts that were predicting a decline to 565,000 jobless claims for the week. A 4-week moving average of new claims decreased by 4,750 from the previous week to 566,250 unemployed workers.
Workers seeking continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending August 15th decreased by 119,000 to total 6,133,000 unemployed workers. The four week moving average of continuing benefits claims decreased by 27,000 workers to total 6,241,750 workers seeking continued unemployment benefits.
US Dollar weaker in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been mostly lower in forex trading today against the other major currencies from the day’s opening at 00:00 GMT. The dollar has been weaker versus the euro, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and New Zealand dollar while gaining slightly versus the Japanese yen. The American currency has been about unchanged against the British pound from its opening at 2:02pm ET in the US trading session.
