From Cynthia Scott of OMC Financial Services:

GDP was reported last Thursday.  What is it and why should an investor care?

>>GDP is Gross Domestic Product and simply is a way to measure if an economy is growing or contracting

>>GDP measures four important components 1) personal consumption 2) investment by companies  3) net imports (imports – exports) and 4) government spending

>>U.S. last quarter GDP was -.07; this quarter it was 3.5% - compare China’s GDP of over 7%

>>Two thirds of the GDP measures how much consumers are spending;  Cash for clunkers and the $8000 tax credit for new home purchases probably inflated GDP

>>GDP is revised from initial estimates so be careful

>>The bottom line is that a growing GDP will result in:

Paying down some of the government debt
Companies making profits
Employers hiring more employees