More bad news: Global markets hit as US growth disappoints

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US growth for Q2 has fallen short of analyst expectations to 1.3%, while the Q1 figure has been sharply revised down from 1.9% to 0.4%.

The figure is considerably lower than analysts' expectations as they forecast growth to be around 1.8%, heightening fears Barack Obama's fiscal stimulus is not working. Consumer spending was blamed as the biggest driver behind the disappointing figures, hitting a two-year low of 0.1%. The slowdown in growth comes days before the 2 August deadline to raise the country's debt ceiling to stave off the possibility of the country losing its prestigious triple-AAA credit rating. The Republicans and Democrats have so far been unable to reach an agreement on the debt ceiling, with both par...

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