Markets find some traction
NEW YORK, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes rose modestly in New York Wednesday after the Commerce Department revised its GDP estimate from 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent.
Consumer spending increased more than previously reported, bumping the GDP higher, but not as high as the first quarter GDP which rose 2 percent over the fourth quarter of 2011.
In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 28.53 points to 13,131.52, up 0.22 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index added 6.44 points to 3,083.58, up 0.21 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 3.18 points to 1,412.48. up 0.23 percent.
The benchmark 10-year treasury fell 7/32, yielding 1.661 percent.
The euro fell to $1.2528 from Tuesday's $1.2565. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 78.72 yen from 78.51 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 255 index added 0.4 percent, 36.52 points, to 9,069.81.
In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 0.56 percent, 32.18 points, to 5,743.53.
GDP revised a touch higher
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The Commerce Department Wednesday revised its estimate of U.S. economic growth to 1.7 percent in the second quarter, a slight gain over a previous report.
In the first estimate released a month earlier, the GDP growth was reported at 1.5 percent, slightly better than 1.3 percent, which was the consensus estimate at the time.
But the growth rate still shows a decline from the first quarter, when the GDP grew 2 percent from the previous quarter.
The Commerce Department said the estimate released Wednesday reflects an increase in consumer spending, exports and fixed investments in residential and non-residential property.
Production of motor vehicles added 0.18 percentage points to the GDP in the second quarter following a 0.72 percentage point contribution in the first quarter.
Consumer spending adjusted for inflation rose 1.7 percent in the second quarter after rising 2.4 percent in the first.
Spending on durable goods -- items expected to last three years or more -- was unchanged, while spending on non-durable goods rose 0.5 percent after rising 1.6 percent in the previous quarter.
Spending on services rose 2.4 percent after a rise of 1.3 percent in the first quarter.
Two dailies to cut print schedules
SYRACUSE, N.Y., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Daily newspapers in Syracuse, N.Y. and Harrisburg, Pa., said Tuesday they would cut their delivery schedules beginning in January.
Newhouse Newspapers, owners of The Post-Standard in Syracuse and The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, has already ended daily printing of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune and its newspapers in Alabama, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The newspaper in Syracuse will be printed and delivered to homes Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. How to handle the four other days of the week is not completely resolved at this point, said the Syracuse Media Group, which oversees the Post-Standard.
The new production schedule is also not completely set for The Patriot News.
"The plan to reinvent ourselves into a digitally focused organization with a quality print product three days a week is aimed at making sure that kind of work continues long into the future," said the Harrisburg newspaper's president and publisher John Kirkpatrick.
The newspaper announced it would publish a print edition on Sunday, but had not made a firm decision on what to do during the rest of the week.
However, a new schedule would start in January, The Patriot News said.
U.S. farm income rises despite drought
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The extreme U.S. drought is expected to raise farm income to $122.2 billion, its highest level in nearly four decades, the Department of Agriculture said.
"It is a wild configuration," University of Nebraska-Lincoln agricultural economics Professor Bruce Johnson told the Lincoln Journal Star.
The 3.7 percent increase, to the highest level since 1973 after inflation is accounted for, was caused by surging prices for corn and other crops -- out of fears of imminent supply declines -- and by field-crop farmers' widespread use of government-backed crop insurance, which pays them for crops damaged by drought, the USDA said.
Federal forecasters sharply cut their estimates for the fall harvest this month, projecting corn growers would have their lowest-yielding crop since 1995.
"Payouts in terms of insurance premiums are going to be astronomical," Johnson told the newspaper.
But livestock and poultry producers didn't benefit financially the way arable farmers did, the USDA said.
Livestock and poultry producers struggled with rising feed costs without comparable rises in the prices they're getting for their animals, while dairy farmers faced higher operating costs and milk-price declines, the USDA said.
Many ranchers rushed to sell animals that had little forage to graze on, which created a short-term supply glut but is forecast to lead to a smaller herd in the long term.
The value of crops, driven by record-high corn and soybean prices, is expected to rise 6.7 percent to $222.1 billion this year, an all-time high.
"Commodity prices have just shot through the roof," Johnson said.
By contrast, revenue from livestock sales will decline 0.1 percent to $165.8 billion, the USDA said.
"It is important to understand and remember that thousands of farm families, particularly livestock and dairy producers, continue to struggle with drought," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
Tuesday's estimates will be revised in November, the agency said.
