VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The world's second largest economy showed positive signs as resurgent sales in the real estate sector boosted growth during March. However, China recorded drop in exports and freight segments.

The rise in household spending has propelled US economy to grow surpass earlier forecasts for fourth quarter of 2015. However, the US GDP growth rate eased in fourth quarter from previous quarter.

Australian economy was picking up pace during the fourth quarter. The commodity-based economy witnessed an annualized growth rate of three percent, fastest in two years, as against the forecast of 2.5 percent.

According to a latest 'Beige Book' from US Federal Reserve, economic activity in some districts has been slowing down, while some recorded modest growth in labor market. The latest financial market crash also hit consumer spending severely in some areas.

The US economy recorded better than expected performance during the fourth quarter enabling it to conclude 2015 on positive mode. Surpassing the forecast of 0.7 percent, the US economy grew one percent during September-October quarter in 2015 giving much leverage to the US government to tighten monetary policy.

Argentina is struggling from soaring inflation, which is hovering at 21 percent. The inflation rate is expected to reach 25 percent in 2016. The government is targeting to bring it down to five percent by 2019. The soaring prices are forcing consumers to pay everything in installments.

Americans turned cautious in spending before the beginning of holiday season. The latest consumer spending data for October 2015 shows the slowdown in consumer credit growth. The consumer credit growth was less than forecast for the month.

US retailers have started flexing their muscles to meet the buying demand during the forthcoming holiday season. Retailers such as Amazon have started hiring in number running over thousands.

It seems like that the whole America is enjoying their savings on gas and takes advantage of the situation while it still favors them. According to the analysis by JPMorgan Chase Institute, about 25 million credit and debit card users were discovered to have spent an entire 80% of their gas savings. These extra expenditures went to restaurants, where a portion also goes to entertainment, groceries, clothes, electronics and appliances.

Though China's growth rate is slowing down, the world's second-largest economy can bounce back to regain the momentum and manage the risks involved, observes International Monetary Fund (IMF).

U.S. consumer spending growth unexpectedly stalled in April as households cut back on purchases of automobiles and continued to boost savings, suggesting the economy was struggling to gain momentum early in the second quarter.

The U.S. economy likely contracted in the first quarter as it buckled under the weight of unusually heavy snowfalls and a resurgent dollar, but activity since has rebounded modestly.

A gauge of U.S. business investment spending plans increased solidly for a second straight month in April, a hopeful sign for manufacturing activity after a long spell of weakness.

U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell in February as harsh weather kept consumers from auto showrooms and shopping malls, tempering the outlook for first-quarter growth and a June interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve.

Citigroup Inc had at least one advantage in its successful bid for the exclusive right to issue credit cards for Costco Wholesale Corp, rivals and tax specialists say: it lost so much money during the financial crisis that it has billions of dollars of tax credits.