A report from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday that the U.S. economy expanded as initially estimated in the first quarter of 2021, reflecting the upward revisions to consumer spending and nonresidential fixed investment, which were offset by the downward revisions to exports and private inventory investment; in addition, imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, were revised up.

According to the second estimate, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a 6.4 percent annual rate in the first quarter, matching the advance estimate.

Economists had expected the decline rate to be revised to 6.5 percent, following the previous quarter's advance of 4.3 percent.

The increase in real GDP in the first quarter reflected gains in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending that, however, were partly offset by declines in private inventory investment and exports. Meanwhile, imports rose.