However, the end result – which takes account of newly released data – was worse than any of the 76 analysts surveyed had expected. They blamed the decline on America’s freezing winter, when bitter conditions kept many consumers indoors and dented business confidence.
“The actual 2.9pc fall is the equivalent of about $15bn lost in the US economy in the first three months of the year, so that polar vortex came with a hefty price tag,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at Forex.com.
Depends, if you want to be fair about it. Was it the magnitude or the direction of the irregularity that cost all that money? Would global warming stabilise winter temps? Do you lose money elsewhere if the summers are hotter as well?
Ahh but a cold spell is simply ‘weather’ so it doesn’t count. A hot spell of course is proof positive of global climate change.
No, rising temperatures, falling temperatures and temperatures staying the same are all evidence of global warming (apparently). Any theory to which any effect whatsoever can be ascribed is non-scientific in the Popperian sense of being unfalsifiable.