Revised 3Q GDP Up 3.2%

Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the third quarter, according to the “second” estimate released yesterday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The GDP estimate is based on more complete source data than were available for the “advance” estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 2.9 percent. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 1.4 percent.

The report said real gross domestic income increased by 5.2 percent in the third quarter, compared to a revised increase of 0.7 percent in the second. The average of real GDP and real GDI, a supplemental measure of U.S. economic activity that equally weights GDP and GDI, increased 4.2 percent in the third quarter, compared to an increase of 1.1 percent in the second.

BEA attributed the increase in third quarter GDP to positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, exports, private inventory investment and federal government spending, partly offset by negative contributions from residential fixed investment and state and local government spending. Imports, which subract in the calculation of GDP, increased

The report said the acceleration in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected an upturn in private inventory investment, an acceleration in exports, an upturn in federal government spending and smaller decreases in state and local government spending and residential fixed investment, partly offset by a deceleration in PCE, an acceleration in imports and a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment.