Real gross domestic product for the U.S. decreased at an annual rate of 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015, according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.2 percent.

The decrease in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from exports, nonresidential fixed investment, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by positive contributions from PCE, private inventory investment and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

The downturn in the percent change in real GDP reflected a deceleration in PCE and downturns in exports, in nonresidential fixed investment, and in state and local government spending that were partly offset by upturns in private inventory investment and in federal government spending and a deceleration in imports.