Advance Q2 GDP Shows 1.5% Growth

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 1.5% in the second quarter of 2012, according to the advance estimate released by the Commerce Department Friday.

The 1.5% advance estimate of GDP growth is less than the 2.0% growth in the first quarter, but slightly outperformed the 1.4% median increase projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. The first quarter estimate was revised upward from the 1.9% increase reported in the final estimate the previous month.

The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures the prices paid by U.S. residents, increased 0.7% in the second quarter. That increase reflected a 1.4% rise in core prices, which exclude food and energy. That core increase came up short of the economists' 1.9% projection.

The increase in real GDP reflected a gain of 1.5% in personal consumption expenditures and an increase of 5.3% in real exports.

Those gains were partially offset by decreases of 0.4% in federal government spending and 2.1% in state and local government spending. National defense spending decreased 0.4%, and nondefense spending fell 0.3%.

Imports, which are subtracted from the calculation of GDP, increased 6.0% in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said.

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