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 4.9% in the third quarter of 2007, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.&nbsp ; In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8%.
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These GDP estimates are based on more complete source data than were available for the advance estimates issued last month.&nbsp ; In the advance estimates, the increase in real GDP was 3.9%.
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The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from exports, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, equipment and software, federal government spending, nonresidential structures, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a negative contribution from residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.