Chart of the Day: GDP Growth Was Lackluster in Q2

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Real GDP grew by only 1.2 percent in the second quarter. Political scientists everywhere are now rushing to plug this number into their models in order to come up with new estimates of who will win the election in November.

Long story short, consumer spending was healthy, but business and residential investment was horrible. Fixed investment was down 3.2 percent and residential investment was down a whopping 6.1 percent. Apparently the new housing market has screeched to a sudden halt.