Real gross domestic product for the U.S. increased at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the second quarter of 2016, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.8 percent.
The increase in real GDP in the second quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures and exports that were partly offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment, residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
The acceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter reflected an acceleration in PCE, an upturn in exports, and smaller decreases in nonresidential fixed investment and in federal government spending.
These were partly offset by a larger decrease in private inventory investment, and downturns in residential fixed investment and in state and local government spending.
The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 2 percent in the second quarter, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in the first. The PCE price index increased 1.9 percent, compared with an increase of 0.3 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index increased 1.7 percent, compared with an increase of 2.1 percent.
