German economy roars ahead in first quarter

BERLIN (Reuters) - German gross domestic product grew a resoundingly strong 0.5 percent in the first quarter, far exceeding forecasts due largely to robust exports, signaling Europe's largest economy can remain a growth engine for the crisis-struck euro zone.

The situation is significantly worse than the mood. But the eurozone crisis is far from over. It’s wishful thinking to expect otherwise WIESBADEN, Germany — The German economy was hit hard by the eurozone crisis in the final quarter of last year, shrinking more than at any point in nearly three years as traditionally strong exports and investment slowed, the Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

Reuters reports Economy grew faster than expected in fourth quarter Gross domestic product expanded at a 3 percent annual rate, the quickest pace since the second quarter of 2010, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday in its second estimate.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy barely grew in the fourth quarter although a slightly better performance in exports and fewer imports led the government to scratch an earlier estimate that showed an economic contraction. Gross domestic product expanded at a 0.1% annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, missing the 0.5% gain forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. The growth rate was the slowest since the first quarter of 2011 and far from what is needed to fuel a faster drop in the unemployment rate.

By Ed Dolan: According to the final figures released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Gross Domestic Income grew at a strong 4.4 percent annual rate in Q4 2011. Growth of GDI outpaced that of GDP, which was unrevised at 3 percent, itself the strongest of the year. As the chart shows, it was the second consecutive quarter that GDI had grown faster than GDP.

The Bundesbank’s monthly report for February forecast that the rest of 2013 will see a gradual pick-up in activity in Europe’s biggest economy, reports The BBC. If the economy shrank again in the current quarter, Germany would technically be in recession, defined as two quarters of contraction. The economy shrank by 0.6% in the last three months of 2012.

India's economy grew 8.2 percent on an annual basis in the last quarter of 2010, driven by expansion in the farm and financial service sectors, official data showed on Monday.Growth in gross domestic product in the October-December period was lower than the 8.9 percent reading in the previous quarter, data from the Central Statistical Organisation showed.Output from the farming sector grew 8.9 percent over the 12 months, boosted by strong monsoon rains, while expansion by finance and property companies measured 11.2 percent.

Tom Lydon submits: The eurozone delivered a nice surprise to analysts this morning, reporting better-than-expected second-quarter growth figures. European economies and ETFs moved along their own individual trends.