The real gross domestic product (GDP) of the U.S. grew at an annual rate of 4.0% in the second quarter, per the "advance" estimate released this morning by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
This increase is even more impressive considering that GDP had decreased 2.1% in the first quarter, per BEA’s latest figures. What’s more, that figure has a positive side to it— the government agency had previously estimated GDP had dropped in Q1 by 2.9%.
BEA stated that “this upturn in the percent change in real GDP primarily reflected” these positive events:
- Upturns in private inventory investment and in exports
- An acceleration in personal consumption expenditures (PCE)
- An upturn in state and local government spending
- An acceleration in nonresidential fixed investment and an upturn in residential fixed investment “that were partly offset by an acceleration in imports”
Key positive metrics that BEA credited with bringing on the upswing in GDP growth, presented with their Q2 and corresponding Q1 growth rates, include:
- Real PCE rising 2.5% in Q2 compared to increasing 1.2% in Q1
- Durable goods climbing 14.0% in Q2 compared to increasing 3.2% in Q1
- Nondurable goods growing 2.5 percent compared to having gone unchanged in Q1
- Services going up 0.7% in Q2 compared to increasing 1.3% in Q1
- Real nonresidential fixed investment rising 5.5% in Q2 compared to increasing 1.6% in Q1
- Investment in nonresidential structures growing 5.3% compared to increasing 2.9% in Q1
- Investment in equipment climbing 7.0% compared to decreasing 1.0% in Q1
- Real residential fixed investment rising 7.5% compared to decreasing 5.3% in Q1
- Real exports of goods and services climbing 9.5% in Q2 compared to decreasing 9.2% in Q1
- Real state and local government consumption expenditures and gross investment increasing 3.1% compared to decreasing 1.3% in Q1
BEA also pointed out that the change recorded in real private inventories added 1.66 percentage points to the Q2 change in real GDP. By comparison, that factor had subtracted 1.16 percentage points from the Q1 change.
In addition, the agency found that private businesses increased their inventories by $93.4 billion in Q2. That compares favorably to the corresponding increases of $35.2 billion recorded in Q1 and of $81.8 billion in Q4 of 2013.
