Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018, according to the second estimate of the National Income and Product Accounts. With the second estimate, real GDP growth for the second quarter was revised up 0.1 percent from the advance estimate of 4.1 percent issued last month. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent.
The increase in real GDP in the second quarter reflected positive contributions from consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, federal government spending and state and local government spending. These positive contributions were partly offset by negative contributions from inventory investment and from residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
The acceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter reflected accelerations in consumer spending and in exports, a smaller decrease in residential fixed investment, and accelerations in federal government spending and in state and local government spending. These movements were partly offset by a downturn in private inventory investment and a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment. Imports turned down.
