Fiscal activity unlikely to hurt spending levels

Consensus is that the US economy will achieve a soft landing despite July to September producing the slowest quarter of growth in four years. In November the US Commerce Department cut its estimate of third-quarter growth from 2.7% to 2.4%. According to Terry Ewing, head of US equities at Britannic Asset Management, the reduction in GDP growth in the third quarter was partly due to inventory de-stocking and the slower pace of government spending. Grant Wilson, North America fund manager at Martin Currie, says the key figure for the US economy is consumer expenditure which accounts for tw...