The Trump economic boom appears to be well underway, based on new figures released Thursday.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta estimated that the Gross Domestic Product grew at 5.4 percent during the fourth quarter of last year.
That’s up from 4.3 percent during the third quarter, and is a full 3 percentage points higher than former President Joe Biden’s last quarter in office in 2024, when it was 2.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the nation’s trade deficit fell to $29 billion in October, down from $136 billion in March before President Donald Trump instituted his reciprocal trade policy.
CNBC’s Rick Santelli reported Thursday, “We were expecting a number around $58 billion [in October]. Buckle up, this is unreal, the movement in this number: Minus $29.4 billion. We cut it basically in half.”
CNBC reported that exports increased 2.6 percent and imports fell 3.2 percent in October.
The $29.4 billion figure was the lowest since the second quarter of 2009.
“The U.S. appears to be winning the trade war with tariffs curbing the imports of foreign goods, but America’s trading partners are not holding any grudge as they continue to buy more American goods and services,” Chris Rupkey, chief economist at Fwdbonds contended.
“So far, the forecasts for a U.S. recession are coming up dry as productivity continues to backstop growth,” he added.
Productivity grew at 4.9 percent in the third quarter of last year, according to a Thursday report by the Department of Labor Statistics.
The Bureau explained on its website, “Productivity is a measure of economic performance that compares the amount of goods and services produced (output) with the amount of inputs used to produce those goods and services.”
Quantus Insights noted on social media, “Higher output with lower costs is the holy grail: growth without inflation.”
Additionally, CNBC reported, “Initial unemployment claims for the week ended Jan. 3 totaled 208,000, pushing the four-week moving average to its lowest since April 27, 2024.”
The Trump economy appears to be firing on all cylinders.
