US GDP increased at solid pace in second quarter

International
US GDP increased at solid pace in second quarter
By Finfacts Team
Aug 31, 2005, 14:03

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Final sales of computers contributed 0.33 percentage point to second-quarter real GDP growth

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labour and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the second quarter of 2005, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 3.8 percent.

The GDP estimates released today are based on more complete source data than were available for the advance estimates issued last month. In the advance estimates, the increase in real GDP was 3.4 percent.

The major contributors to the increase in real GDP in the second quarter were personal consumption expenditures, exports, equipment and software, residential fixed investment, and government spending. The contribution of these components were partly offset by a negative contribution from private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

The deceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment that was partly offset by a deceleration in imports and an acceleration in exports.

Final sales of computers contributed 0.33 percentage point to second-quarter real GDP growth after contributing 0.37 percentage point to first-quarter growth. Motor vehicle output contributed 0.01 percentage point to second-quarter real GDP growth after contributing 0.15 percentage point to the first quarter growth.