USA Second Quarter GDP a Higher 1.7%

Bureau of Economic Analysis: Gross Domestic Product

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released the second estimate of Q2 2012 GDP which was +1.7% quarter over quarter, an increase from the prior (advance) Q1 2012 estimate of +2.0%, and a drop from the previous Q4 2011 of +4.1%. The total GDP reached an all-time high $15.606 trillion annualized. The GDP has increased quarter over quarter for 12 consecutive quarters, since Q3 2009. Growth rates have ranged from a near-recessionary +0.1% in Q1 2011 to a robust +4.1% in Q4 2011.

Inflation Adjustment The price index for gross domestic purchases increased to 0.8 percent in the second quarter, an upward revision of 0.1 percentage point.

USA Real GDP by Quarter (%)



USA Real GDP by Quarter ($)



Bureau of Economic Analysis Statement

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter of 2012 (that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.0 percent.

The increase in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, nonresidential fixed investment, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment and from state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

The deceleration in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected decelerations in PCE, in nonresidential fixed investment, and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a smaller decrease in federal government spending, an acceleration in exports, and a smaller decrease in private inventory investment.