The Conference Board Economics Watch® United States View: August 2014

The US economy is poised to grow faster than trend over at least the next few quarters. Continued relatively strong employment gains are translating into more income and spending. They also help boost consumer confidence and could be delivering some stimulus to the housing market. The business response will be to green light long-delayed investment plans. On the fiscal side, the pickup in economic activity is adding to state and local government revenue. The overall result could be as much as 3 percent growth over the second half of 2014 and continuing into the early months of 2015. Conversely, geopolitical risks and lack of pickup in wage growth, along with lack of acceleration in the housing market beyond the second quarter’s bounce back, might dampen growth prospects.