The Commerce Department released on Friday its "advance" estimate for the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2019, which revealed the U.S. economy grew more than expected in the reviewed period.

According to the estimate, the U.S. real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent q-o-q last quarter, after rising by 3.1 percent q-o-q in the first quarter of 2019.

Economists had expected GDP to boost by 1.8 percent.

According to the report, the gain in real GDP in the second quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), federal government spending, and state and local government spending that, however, were partly offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment, exports, nonresidential fixed investment and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, rose.

At the same time, the acceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter reflected downturns in inventory investment, exports, and nonresidential fixed investment, which were partly offset by accelerations in PCE and federal government spending.