RJ and Makay

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World population will cross the 7 billion mark today, according to the United Nations.  It has been 12 years since the planet’s population passed the 6 billion mark in 1999.  At that time, rising stock market values, rising incomes and declining commodity prices, along with continued progress in fighting hunger and severe poverty, had many optimistic about future growth.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has reduced its estimate for first-quarter GDP growth from 2.2% to 1.5% — the most pessimistic forecast on Wall Street.

Although the job market is improving, wage growth isn't keeping up with inflation, the brokerage points out, adding that recent data on construction have also been weak. Furthermore, even if there are only modest revisions to January and February data and monthly consumption grows 0.3% in March, annualized consumption will still be just 2.3% in the first quarter, Merrill says.

Economy watchers waiting for revised fourth-quarter GDP figures got a bit of a shock today. Instead of the upward revision from 3.2% to 3.3% they expected, the government adjusted its fourth-quarter estimate down to 2.8% on deep spending cuts by state and local governments.

However, the revised figure is still better than the third quarter's 2.6% growth rate. Furthermore, excluding inventories, the economy expanded at a 6.7% annual pace, the most since 1998.