The Commerce
Department reported on Thursday that its the "third" estimate
revealed the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a 2.0 percent annual
rate in the second quarter of 2019, unchanged from the "second"
estimate issued last month.
Economists had
expected the growth rate to be unrevised at 2.0 percent.
In the first
quarter, the economy expanded by 3.1 percent.
According to
the report, downward revisions to personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and
nonresidential fixed investment were primarily offset by upward revisions to
state and local government spending and exports. Meanwhile, imports, which are
a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, were revised down.
The increase in
real GDP in the second quarter reflected positive contributions from PCE,
federal government spending, and state and local government spending that were
partly offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment,
exports, nonresidential fixed investment, and residential fixed investment.
At the same time,
the deceleration in real GDP in the second quarter primarily reflected
downturns in inventory investment, exports, and nonresidential fixed
investment. These downturns, however. were partly offset by accelerations in
PCE and federal government spending.