Commerce downgrades U.S. Q3 GDP projection

United States gross domestic product expanded at an annualized rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter of 2015, according to the third estimate from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.    The United States economy grew less than initial estimates suggested in the third quarter of 2015, according to the latest GDP estimate from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
   Commerce said in its “third” estimate U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annualized rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter of 2015, following first and second estimates of 1.5 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
   The department noted its third estimate is based on more accurate, updated information than was available for the previously published projections.
   “The small downward revision to the percent change in real GDP primarily reflected a downward revision to private inventory investment, based primarily on revised Census inventory data,” BEA said in a statement.
   The third quarter 2015 projection represents a downturn after second quarter GDP growth rebounded significantly from a first quarter that was slowed by harsh winter weather and West Coast port congestion. Real U.S. GDP increased 3.9 percent in Q2 following an anemic annual rate of 0.6 percent in Q1 2015.
   The deceleration in real GDP in the third quarter was driven primarily by a downturn in private inventory investment and declines in exports, nonresidential fixed investment, personal consumption expenditures, state and local government spending, and residential fixed investment, which were partly offset by a deceleration in import growth.
   Real exports of goods and services increased 0.7 in the third quarter, while imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, grew 2.7 percent, according to BEA. U.S. export growth has been held in check by a strong dollar, which makes U.S. exports more expensive and, therefore, less desirable abroad, as well as declining demand in China and Europe.
   Gross domestic product – the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy minus the value of the goods and services used up in production – is the broadest measure of the overall health of the U.S. economy.