The Final Revisions

After some rough economic times, we can at least end September on a high note: The Bureau of Economic Analysis has revised upward some of the GDP figures from earlier this year. It turns out that the pullback we thought we had experienced in the spring wasn't as severe as it had been reported. Second quarter GDP - which had been revised downward from 1.3 percent to 1.0 percent in August - has been revised back up to 1.3 percent in the government's third and final estimate.

What changed? The biggest culprit was consumer spending - which went in two different directions. Consumer spending on goods, especially durable goods such as motor vehicles, was one of the primary decliners for the quarter. (Business investment in equipment and software was also revised down.) But consumer spending on services was revised upward in the final set of figures.

Current-dollar GDP - which reflects the market value of the nation's output of goods and services - made an even bigger upward swing. That figure had dropped from 3.7 to 3.5 percent in the first set of revisions, but it has now been nudged up even further, to 4.0 percent.

The first estimate for third-quarter GDP is due out on October 28.