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 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2008, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 0.6 percent.
 
The GDP estimates released today are based on more complete source data than were available for the advance estimates issued last month. In the advance estimates, the increase in real GDP was 0.6 percent.
 
The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for services, exports of goods and services, federal government spending, and private inventory investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from residential fixed investment and PCE for durable goods. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
 
The small acceleration in real GDP primarily reflected an upturn in inventory investment that was partly offset by a deceleration in PCE.
 
Final sales of computers contributed 0.06 percentage point to the first-quarter growth in real GDP after contributing 0.16 percentage point to the fourth-quarter growth. Motor vehicle output subtracted 0.35 percentage point from the first-quarter growth in real GDP after subtracting 0.86 percentage point from the fourth-quarter growth.