STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 11 April 2014

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48. U.S. as Global Growth Engine Putt-Putts Instead of Purring

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/u-s-as-global-growth-engine-putt-putts-instead-of-purring.html

The U.S. is resuming its role as an engine of global growth, this time one that just putt-putts along instead of purring.

As the International Monetary Fund declares the strengthening U.S. economy is providing a “major impulse” to the world, economists are questioning just how powerful it will prove to be. The U.S. contribution to global expansion from 2014 to 2019 will likely average about two-thirds that of the quarter-century before the recession started in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on IMF projections.

“The U.S. is still the most important engine of global growth although perhaps not as much as it once was,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Zandi is among the optimists in arguing acceleration in U.S. growth has spillover effects on other economies by spurring trade and investment. Skeptics at Morgan Stanley and HSBC Holdings Plc say America’s diminished demand for exports and energy as well as the potential for higher interest rates mean it won’t be as helpful as it once was.