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 3.9% in the third quarter 2007, according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8%.
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The Bureau emphasized that the third-quarter advance” estimates are based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The third-quarter “preliminary” estimates, based on more comprehensive data, will be released on Nov. 29, 2007.
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The increase in real GDP in the third quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, federal government spending, equipment and software, nonresidential structures, private inventory investment, 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.