It’s higher than the initial advance estimate (just barely) but considerably lower than the second guess. But no matter how you wish to interpret today’s third and final measure of second-quarter GDP, there’s no getting around the fact that the general trend with economic measures broad and narrow of late is down.
The real, annualized increase in GDP was 2.6% during April through June, the government reported, down from 5.6% in the first quarter. The fact that there’s a slowdown in our midst is old news. The bigger question is what investors should do, if anything? In search of an answer, everyone starts with the same handicap: ignorance about what’s coming. That, as they say, is the nature of risk.
The first step in mitigating that risk is diversification. The devil, of course, is in the details. With that in mind, we direct you to the dark angel’s scorecard. As always, it’s heavy on offering clarity about what’s already passed and silent on the morrow….