Despite Slowing Economy, Fed in No Hurry to Act

The economy is growing more slowly than last quarter, but probably not enough to push the Federal Reserve into action next week.

U.S. gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, grew at a pace of 1.5 percent in the second quarter, down from a revised 2 percent in the first quarter.

Traders had been watching to see if the number, reported Friday, would signal a growth scenario that would encourage the Fed to be more aggressive at its two-day meeting next week.

“It’s not an emergency. I think they’ll be inclined to wait for September,” said Peter Fisher, head of BlackRock’s Fixed Income Portfolio Management Group. Fisher said he expects the economy to have been growing at about 2 percent and, all told, that’s what the data and revisions show.

Fourth-quarter growth was revised from 3 percent to 4.1 percent, and the revisions show that 2011 was slightly better than thought. The first quarter was raised by 0.1 percent.

“There’s no news here,” Fisher said.