Company Profits Soared By 30% In 3rd Quarter: “The economic recovery has picked up momentum, boosting the bottom lines of a wide range of U.S. corporations. The Commerce Department reported that profits at American companies rose 30% in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. That was the largest year-over-year growth in profits in 19 years and was enough to lift the annual pace of profits above $1 trillion for the first time in history.”
Biggest Gain in Two Decades Came as GDP Is Revised Up;
Red-Hot Pace Seen Cooling
“The corporate profit figures were part of a broader report on economic output, or gross domestic product. The government revised up its estimate of the annual rate of third-quarter GDP to 8.2% from the previously reported annual pace of 7.2%. The revision in GDP — the total value of the nation’s goods and services — occurred largely because companies didn’t reduce inventories as aggressively as previously thought in the face of booming consumer demand. Less inventory reduction meant companies had to produce more goods to keep up with demand.
Source:
Company Profits Soared By 30% In 3rd Quarter
By Jon E. Hilsenrath
Wall Street Journal, November 26, 2003
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106976683161752300,00.html
