WASHINGTON – Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. -- increased at an annual rate of 2.0% in the preliminary third quarter report, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
The gain was below the advance estimate of 2.5% for the third quarter but above the 1.3% annual rate of growth reported for the second quarter. It was below the 2.5% median increase projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters.
The increase primarily reflected gains of 2.3% in personal consumption expenditures, 14.8% in nonresidential fixed investment, 4.3% in exports and 1.9% in federal government spending. Those gains were partially offset by losses of 0.9% in private inventory investment and 1.4% in state and local government spending. Imports, which are subtracted from the calculation of GDP, increased 0.5%, the Commerce Department said.
Preliminary corporate profits increased $39.8 billion in the third quarter, compared to an increase of $61.2 billion in the second quarter.
