Individual Global Investor

U.K. GDP Surprises to the Downside: Is the U.S. Next?

<IMG class=authors_reply src="static.seekingalpha.co..."> Rob,

Your point is well taken. I realize that most of the times when questions are in the title, they are rhetorical ones. This time the question in the title was a sincere one. When I saw the headline numbers for the U.K. I asked myself this very question and the point of the article was to answer the question. In my mind the answer could have been yes or no.

It is my read of the data that the difference in trend of industrial production figures between the U.S. and the U.K. is sufficient to explain a negative initial GDP growth figure for the U.K. while supporting the forecasted positive growth number for the U.S. when it comes out on Thursday. Therefore the answer to the question posed in the title is, "No."

While it has happened before that SA editors rephrase the title, that wasn't the issue this time. It is simply that the title is the question I posed at the beginning of my investigation and the conclusion when I had finished was no. Sorry for any confusion.

- Bryan