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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Real GDP increased 1.7% Annualized in Q2

by Calculated Risk on 7/31/2013 08:30:00 AM

From the BEA:

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter of 2013 (that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 1.1 percent (revised).

The increase in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, nonresidential fixed investment, private inventory investment, and residential investment that were partly offset by a negative contribution from federal government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

The acceleration in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected upturns in nonresidential fixed investment and in exports, a smaller decrease in federal government spending, and an upturn in state and local government spending that were partly offset by an acceleration in imports and decelerations in private inventory investment and in PCE.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased at a 1.8% annualized rate, and residential investment increased 13.4%.  Equipment increased 4.1%, Intellectual property products 3.8%, and non-residential investment 4.6%.

"Change in private inventories" added 0.41 percentage points to GDP in Q2, and the Federal government subtracted 0.12 percentage points (mostly a decrease in non-defense spending).  State and local governments turned slightly positive.

This was above expectations of a 1.1% growth rate. I'll have much more on GDP later including all the revisions ...