GDP: Not Going Anywhere

Yesterday was the day that the Commerce Department was scheduled to release its revision of the first-quarter GDP numbers, which had originally come in at a disappointing 1.8 percent. There was a consensus among economists that the numbers would get revised upwards to 2.2 percent. But that wasn't the only view out there: Zacks Investment Research published an article early in the week warning about a downward revision in the number.

But the new figure from Commerce was... 1.8 percent. It didn't change at all. It's not that there were no changes to the initial report; it's just that they canceled each other out. To be specific, exports and private inventory investment were revised upward, while personal consumption expenditures were revised downward.

There's a third estimate due out on June 24. The smart money that time around will probably be on the GDP number not changing any.