NEW YORK, June 26 - The following are comments from U.S. market analysts on Thursdsay after the U.S. Commerce Department reported first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth was revised down to a gain of only 1.4 percent, from the May estimate of a rise of 1.9 percent on an annualized basis.
The final estimate for the first quarter GDP deflator was revised to up 2.4 percent, from up 2.5 percent. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported weekly jobless claims fell to 404,000 in the week of June 21, from a revised 426,000 the previous week. The four week average fell to 428,250 in the June 21 week from a revised 433,500 the previous week. Continued claims rose to 3,741,000 in the June 14 week from 3,698,000 in the prior week. GARY THAYER, CHIEF ECONOMIST, A.G. EDWARDS & SONS, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI:
"The GDP data is a bit of a surprise. Usually we don't see this much of a revision in the third estimate of a quarter's growth, but it's still old news and reflects what the economy was doing heading into the war so I don't think it's that relevant to what is happening now after the war. "On the claims side, we've seen claims come down four out of the last five weeks which is encouraging. The Fed said yesterday we may be seeing stabilization of labor conditions."//