Q2 U.S. GDP beats expectations

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis revised a previous prediction of a 3.7 percent annual growth rate in second quarter gross domestic product to a 3.9 percent increase.    United States gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 3.9 percent in the second quarter of 2015, according to the third estimate from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
   Commerce in its second GDP estimate last month predicted a 3.7 percent growth rate for the second quarter and a 2.3 percent growth rate in its first estimate.
   Commerce said in a statement the upward revision in its GDP estimate was driven primarily by “an upturn in exports, an acceleration in PCE, a deceleration in imports, an upturn in state and local government spending, and an acceleration in nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by decelerations in private inventory investment and in federal government spending.”
   Real exports of goods and services increased 5.1 percent in the second quarter, while imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, grew 3.0 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.
   The revised second quarter projections represent a significant turnaround after first quarter 2015 GDP growth was slowed by harsh winter weather and West Coast port congestion. Real U.S. GDP increased at an anemic annual rate of 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015.
   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 considered one of several key indicators in the overall health of the U.S. economy.