The economy is still delicate.
The Commerce Department said the downgrade to the GDP estimate was due to an upward revision to imports -- which detract from growth -- and a downward revision to exports.Hmm, maybe this is why Wall Street is cooling off in their support for Bush. Can a permanent tax cut really be acceptable to fiscal hawks?
The change had been widely anticipated by analysts after a dramatic deterioration of the U.S. trade position in June. The trade gap blew out to a record $55.8 billion in the month, far higher than had been assumed in the first estimate of second-quarter GDP.
