A report from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday that the U.S. economy contracted less than initially thought in the second quarter of 2020, as private inventory investment and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased less than previously estimated.

According to the second estimate, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) fell at a 31.7 percent annual rate in the second quarter, slower than a 32.9 percent drop reported in the advance estimate. Still, this is the biggest decline ever.

Economists had expected the decline rate to be revised to 32.5 percent, following the first quarter's decrease of 5.0 percent.

The decrease in real GDP in the second quarter reflected declines in PCE, exports, nonresidential fixed investment, private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by an advance in federal government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, dropped.