US economy

Key indices on the New York Stock Exchange are rising in the first minutes after opening trading on Thursday, despite a 0.9 per cent year-on-year decline in US GDP.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 82.96 points (0.26%) to 32,280.55. The S&P 500 index gains 12.97 points (0.32%) to 4,036.58 points. The Nasdaq electronic exchange index rises 25.82 points (0.21%) to 12,058.24 points.

Earlier on Thursday the US Department of Commerce published figures showing that the country's GDP in the second quarter of 2022 declined by 0.9% year-on-year. Experts had expected US GDP for the second quarter to rise by 0.3% year-on-year.

It is worth noting that many US analysts consider the ongoing economic downturn for two consecutive quarters to be one of the main signs of recession. The White House has previously repeatedly stated that this is not the case and that the US economy will avoid recession.

On Wednesday, Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), which serves as the country's central bank, said that the United States could avoid a recession due to strong economic indicators, especially low unemployment. He stressed that the financial regulator does not officially announce that the American economy has slipped into recession. An independent panel of economists from the National Bureau of Economic Research is doing this.

Powell also said that slowing the country's economic growth could help combat high inflation.

According to a statement from the US Department of Labor, the country's consumer prices rose 9.1 per cent year-on-year in June, the largest increase since November 1981. To combat inflation, the Fed on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.75p to 2.25-2.5 per cent for the second time in a row.