If the lagging economy has had you down for a while, chin up. You’ll happy to hear that there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. The Bureau of Economic Analysis says the U.S. economy is looking the best it has in five years.
Real gross domestic product (the output goods and services produced by labor and property in the United States) rose at an annual rate of 4%. This is good news, considering real GDP had decreased 2.1% in the previous quarter.
The Bureau asserts that the rise in real GDP in the second quarter was a reflection of contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, exports, nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending, and residential fixed investment.
Other findings from the BEA report:
– Real personal consumption expenditures rose by 2.5%, compared with an increase of 1.2 % in the prior quarter.
– Durable goods increased 14%, up from 3.2%.
– Nondurable goods increased 2.5%, which demonstrated no change from the first quarter.
– Services increased 0.7% in the second quarter, compared with an increase of 1.3% in the first quarter.