Friday, August 30, 2019

GDP Estimates Slow a Touch

The U.S. economy slowed a bit more than initially thought in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. The strongest growth in consumer spending in four and a half years was offset by declining exports and a smaller inventory build.

Gross domestic product increased at a 2.0 percent annualized rate, the Commerce Department said in its second reading of second-quarter GDP, revised down from the 2.1 percent pace estimated last month. The economy grew at a 3.1 percent rate in the first quarter of this year. Altogether, it expanded 2.6 percent in the first half of the year.

The brightest spot in the second quarter: Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, surged at a 4.7 percent rate. That was the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2014 and was a slight upward revision from the 4.3 percent pace estimated last month.

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