"Investment spending in the U.S. has been lackluster, and it's certainly not getting better"
- Harm Bandholz, chief economist at UniCredit Group
U.S. non-farm productivity rose more than expected in the second quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. Nation's non-farm business sector labour productivity rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.2%, up from a preliminary estimate of a 1.6% increase.
"Companies did a good job on productivity during the crisis, and they will continue to try to increase productivity to boost profits, but it's not so easy to do that from here," said Harm Bandholz, chief economist at UniCredit Group in New York.
"Investment spending in the U.S. has been lackluster, and it's certainly not getting better. The potential for increasing profits by cutting costs has come down quite a bit."
Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.11 per cent to 1,403.44. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged higher 0.09 per cent to 13,047.48. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.19 per cent to 3,069.27.
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