美國二季度GDP增速上調至4.6%

The US economy grew by an annuAlised 4.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2014, compared with an earlier estimate of 4.2 per cent, as evidence builds of a more robust recovery this year.

隨着美國經濟顯現比去年更強勁的復甦勢頭，美國已將按年率計算的二季度GDP增速從早先預估的4.2%上調至4.6%。

It is the second upward revision following an initial estimate of 4 per cent. It shows how strongly the economy bounced back after shrinking in the first quarter due to bad weather.

美國最初對二季度GDP增長的估值爲4%，這已是第二次向上修正這一數據。這表明，美國經濟在一季度由於糟糕天氣出現萎縮以後，已強勁反彈。

Although the latest release concerns growth almost three months ago, it suggests the economy had more momentum heading into the second half of the year than previously thought, and is on the roughly 3 per cent growth path forecast by many US Federal Reserve officials.

儘管最新數據顯示的是近3個月前的增速，但這表明，今年下半年美國經濟增長勢頭要比之前想象的更爲強勁，而且符合美聯儲(Fed)很多官員預測的大約3%的增速。

“This was the fastest quarterly rate since 2011, confirming that the US economy bounced back strongly from the weather-related setback in the first quarter,” said Joseph Lake, US analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

經濟學人智庫(Economist Intelligence Unit)的美國分析師約瑟夫•萊克(Joseph Lake)表示：“這是自2011年以來的最快季度增速，證實美國經濟已自今年第一季度與天氣相關的萎縮中強勁反彈。”

The single biggest source of upward revisions was investment, which added an extra 0.2 percentage points to growth, most of it from business spending on new buildings. Another 0.1 percentage points came from exports.

此次向上修正的最大單一原因是投資，投資爲經濟增長多貢獻了0.2個百分點，多數來自企業在新建築方面的支出。另外0.1個百分點的上調來自出口。

There was a 0.4 percentage point upward revision to healthcare consumption – which has been hard to measure this year because of the impact of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act – but it was offset by downward revisions to recreation and other services.

醫療消費向上修正了0.4個百分點，但被娛樂和其他服務的向下修正所抵消。由於美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)的《平價醫療法案》(Affordable Care Act)的影響，今年醫療消費數據一直很難評估。

The pattern of revisions is encouraging because it points to stronger underlying demand in the economy. Final sales to domestic purchasers, which strip out the effect of inventory build-ups, were revised up from annualised growth of 3.1 to 3.4 per cent.

此次上修美國經濟增長數據令市場興奮，因爲這表明美國經濟的基礎需求較爲強勁。按年率計算，面向美國國內消費者的最終銷售（剔除了庫存累積的影響）增速從3.1%上修至3.4%。

“While personal consumption remained flat at 2.5 per cent, the upward revision to investment activity was quite positive, suggesting that the drivers of growth are likely to continue pivoting toward investment activity in the coming quarters,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, US strategist at TD Securities in New York.

道明證券(TD Securities)駐紐約美國策略師堅納德•哥德堡(Gennadiy Goldberg)表示：“儘管個人消費持平在2.5%，但投資活動的向上修正相當正面，這表明，未來幾個季度，增長推動力的重心可能會繼續轉向投資活動。”