Real gross domestic product – the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the U.S. – increased from the second quarter to the third at an annual rate of 2.8 percent, according to the advance estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2.5 percent.
The third-quarter advance estimate released today 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 December 5.
The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, private inventory investment, exports, residential fixed investment, nonresidential fixed investment, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a negative contribution from federal government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.
The acceleration in real GDP growth in the third quarter primarily reflected a deceleration in imports and accelerations in private inventory investment and in state and local government spending that were partly offset by decelerations in exports, in nonresidential fixed investment and in PCE.
The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, increased 1.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in the second. Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 1.5 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 0.8 percent in the second.
