GDP Grows 3.5% in 3Q: Advance Estimates

By MDM Staff

October 29, 2009

More about: Economy

Increase in GDP reflects growth in exports, inventory investment, residential investment and federal government spending.

Real gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. - increased at an annual rate of 3.5% in the third quarter of 2009, (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP decreased 0.7%.

The Bureau emphasized that the third-quarter advance estimate is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The "second" estimate for the third quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on Nov. 24, 2009.

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, private inventory investment, federal government spending, and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

The upturn in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected upturns in PCE, in private inventory investment, in exports, and in residential fixed investment and a smaller decrease in nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by an upturn in imports, a downturn in state and local government spending, and a deceleration in federal government spending.

Motor vehicle output added 1.66 percentage points to the third-quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.19 percentage point to the second-quarter change. Final sales of computers subtracted 0.11 percentage point from the third-quarter change in real GDP after subtracting 0.04 percentage point from the second-quarter change.

Download the pdf below for the full release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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