WASHINGTON — Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 1.7% in the second quarter of 2012, according to the preliminary estimate released by the Commerce Department Wednesday.
The 1.7% advance estimate of GDP growth is greater than the 1.5% growth originally reported during the
The GDP growth decelerated from the first quarter of the year, which saw a 2% increase over the final quarter of 2011.
Personal consumption expenditures increased 1.7% in the second quarter. Excluding food and energy, PCE increased 1.8%, the same as the economists' prediction. The increase in real GDP reflected the gain in PCE as well as a 6% in real exports, the Commerce Department said.
Those gains were partially offset by decreases of 0.1% in federal government spending and 1.4% in state and local government spending. National defense spending decreased 0.1%, and nondefense spending fell 0.3%.
Imports, which are subtracted from the calculation of GDP, increased 2.9% in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said.
