Q1 GDP Revised up to 1.1%

The government again revised Q1 GDP higher. Now that Q2 is almost over, the Q1 numbers are looking somewhat dated, but the government now says that the U.S. economy grew, in real terms, by 1.1% during the first three months of the year. The initial report was for 0.5% which was later revised to 0.8%.

Exports actually rose slightly instead of falling and business investment was not as dismal as previously reported, according to the government’s second update. Those changes accounted for the upward revision in gross domestic product, the official scorecard for the U.S. economy.

On a negative note, consumer spending was revised to show the smallest gain in two years.

Although first-quarter growth was twice as strong as the Commerce Department’s original reading, the slow start in 2016 might be enough to prevent the U.S. from reaching 3% annual growth for the 11th straight year.

We’ll get our first look at Q2 at the end of July. It’s broadly assumed that the economy did better than in Q1. The latest estimate from Atlanta GDPNow is for Q2 growth of 2.5%.

Here’s real GDP going back a few years. The shaded area is the recession.

Posted by on June 28th, 2016 at 12:10 pm


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