Monday, September 29, 2014

Even Better for GDP

The Commerce Department's second estimate of GDP growth for the second quarter was very good, at 4.2 percent. On Friday, it got even better, as the third and final estimate ratcheted that number up to 4.6 percent.

That matches the third quarter of 2011 as the best quarter we've seen for growth since the end of the recession. In fact, we haven't had a better quarter for growth since the first quarter of 2006, when the economy grew at 4.9 percent.

What caused the upward revision? The biggest factor was commercial real estate, which increased by 9.7 percent in the second quarter after rising by just 1.6 percent in the first quarter. In addition, profits recorded by financial corporations rose by $33.3 billion in the second quarter; they had dropped by $86.2 billion in the first quarter.

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