About that GDP

GDP Q3 '13 third revision 4.1% from 3.6% from 2.8%.  Good news?  Not as good as it seems.  Turns out that 1.7% of the increase was inventory builds.  Much of the rest population growth.  And in a not surprising development the rest in the newly added component of intellectual property. 

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Press Release Dec, 20, 2013. 

This at the end:

Corporate profits by industry Domestic profits of financial corporations increased $9.7 billion in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $24.5 billion in the second. Domestic profits of nonfinancial corporations increased $12.7 billion, compared with an increase of $37.8 billion. The increase in profits of financial corporations reflected increases in both Federal Reserve banks and "other" financial industries. The increase in nonfinancial corporations primarily reflected increases in manufacturing and in "other" nonfinancial corporations that were partly offset by a decrease in information. Within manufacturing, the largest increases were in "other" durable goods and in food and beverage and tobacco products. These increases were partly offset by decreases in petroleum and coal products and in chemical products. The rest-of-the-world component of profits increased $16.7 billion in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $4.6 billion in the second. This measure is calculated as the difference between receipts from the rest of the world and payments to the rest of the world.

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Emphasis added.  The tick is healthy.