- Ronaldo scores 133rd Portugal goal in Nations League win over Poland
- 40 nations contributing to UN Lebanon peacekeeping force condemn 'attacks'
- Eight dead as heavy rain thrashes Brazil after long drought
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- Morocco crush Central African Republic, Guirassy scores hat-trick
- Dupont scores quickfire hat-trick on Toulouse Top 14 return
- Ronaldo scores in Portugal's Nations League win as Spain sink Denmark
- Interim boss Carsley has not applied for England job
- Mets hurler Senga ready to take on Dodgers in game one of NL Championship Series
- Ronaldo on target again as Portugal defeat Poland in Nations League
- Guardians rip Tigers 7-3 to advance in MLB playoffs
- AFP, BBC win top French war reporting awards
- Carsley goes back to basics as humbled England face Finland
- Alex Salmond: the man who took Scotland to the brink of independence
- Scotland's former leader Alex Salmond dies aged 69: party
- UN warns of catastrophe as Israel fights a two-front war
- Croatia extend Scotland's losing streak
- South Africa, New Zealand boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes
- 'Very challenging': Israel faces Hezbollah in tricky terrain
- Farrell begins to feel at home as Racing 92 beat Toulon
- South Africa boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes with Bangladesh win
- Samson ton powers India to T20 series sweep after record total
- Djokovic to face Sinner in Shanghai final with 100th title in sight
- UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon: spokesman
- Pro-Conquest film fuels debate in Mexico over colonial legacy
- Samson ton powers India to record 297-6 in Bangladesh T20
- New Zealand enjoy perfect start to America's Cup defence over Britain
- Pogacar emulates icon Coppi with fourth straight Il Lombardia triumph
- UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict
- New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America's Cup opener
- Djokovic to face Sinner in blockbuster Shanghai Masters final
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
Biden lauds solid 2023 growth as reelection bid gains pace
US President Joe Biden and his Treasury chief touted the country's robust 2023 economic performance Thursday, with stronger than expected growth offering a boost as the Democratic incumbent revs up his reelection campaign.
"Experts, from the time I got elected, were insisting that the recession was just around the corner," Biden said in a speech in Wisconsin. "Well, you know, we've got really strong growth."
He was referring to data released earlier Thursday that showed the US economy -- fueled by a resilient jobs market and consumer spending -- grew at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent in the October-December period.
From the same period a year prior, gross domestic product rose 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, full-year economic growth accelerated to 2.5 percent, from 1.9 percent in 2022.
Biden contrasted the figures with recent remarks by former president Donald Trump, who said he was hoping for the world's biggest economy to crash.
"We obviously have more work to do, but we're making real progress building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, and not the top down," said Biden.
In a statement early Thursday, Biden said: "Wages, wealth, and employment are higher now than they were before the pandemic."
The president, who is aiming to convince voters that he has done a good job reining in costs while spurring investments to support the economy, is almost certainly headed for a 2024 rematch with Trump.
Earlier this week, the Republican ex-president won the New Hampshire primary, all but securing his party's nomination.
- 'Fairest recovery' -
As Biden's reelection drive revs up, his team is seeking to show that he has done more for the country than Trump.
In Chicago, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen emphasized the economy's gains under the Biden administration, including investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
"None of these policies are aiming to recreate an earlier era. This country and the world have changed and we cannot go back," Yellen told the Economic Club of Chicago, in an apparent rebuke of Trump's policies.
The Biden administration, she argued, is building the foundations of America's future through upgraded infrastructure, a modern tax system and centered on the middle class.
- 'Resilient' -
The latest GDP data strengthens optimism that America is achieving a "soft landing," where inflation comes down on higher interest rates, without triggering a recession.
The fourth quarter jump in growth "reflected increases in consumer spending, exports, state and local government spending" and other areas, said the Commerce Department.
In early 2023, analysts expected consumer spending to lose steam as households drew down on accumulated savings during the Covid-19 pandemic and as borrowing costs remained high.
But the country avoided a recession last year.
"Economic growth has been more resilient than we anticipated," Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic told AFP.
A robust labor market fueled job and wage gains, she said. Bolstered personal incomes in turn helped to support consumption.
"We still expect the economy to grow in 2024, but at a slower pace," Bernard Yaros of Oxford Economics told AFP.
"As long as the labor market holds it together and unemployment drifts only gradually higher, the consumer will continue to power this expansion," he added.
- 'Clears the way' -
Residential investment will also likely be a bigger factor behind growth, with the Federal Reserve expected to lower interest rates and homebuilders set to capitalize on lower mortgage rates and a frozen existing-home market, Yaros said.
The outlook for first quarter GDP figures now is for "moderate slowing" from the fourth quarter, said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Analysts expect the Fed may cut interest rates as soon as in May or June, depending on inflation.
Navy Federal Credit Union corporate economist Robert Frick said current data "clears the way for the Fed to deliver the three rate cuts projected for this year, at least."
Th.Berger--AMWN