ABA Banking Journal
Real GDP for the second quarter grew at an annual rate of 3.9 percent according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s third estimate. This is an upward revision from the second estimate of 3.7 percent growth from the quarter, and well above the first quarter’s rate of 0.6 percent. The quarter’s acceleration in growth reflected acceleration in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), as well as an increase in state and local government spending and net exports.
Consumption was the largest contributor to GDP, accounting for 2.4 percent of the 3.9 percent growth in the second quarter, up from 1.2 percent in the first quarter. The growth in consumption was driven by an increase in durable goods spending, which rose 8.0 percent in the second quarter.
Overall, net exports contributed 0.2 percent to GDP, compared to a 1.9 percent drag in the first quarter. Exports of goods and services, which were a 0.8 percent drag in the first quarter, contributed 0.6 percent in the second.
Government expenditures contributed 0.5 percent, after contributing 0.0 percent in the first quarter. The majority of the spending increase was from state and local governments, which increased spending by 4.3 percent.
Read the BEA release.