Commerce Department Reveals 2Q GDP, Revised 2006 GDP

The nation's gross domestic product for the second quarter of 2008 grew 2.8 percent, the commerce department reported Friday.

The first quarter of this year reflected flat growth of 0.9 percent.

The GDP is the total economic output of goods and services produced by labor and property in a year.

Second quarter corporate profits for U.S. companies fell 3.8 percent after falling 1.1 percent in the first quarter this year.

Consumer spending remained weak, but not as frail as the first quarter. Personal expenditures increased 1.2 percent in the second quarter this year, compared with a 0.9 percent increase in the first quarter.

The price index for gross domestic purchases, a measure of inflation, increased 4.2 percent after a 3.5 percent increase in the first quarter.

Nonresidential structures increased 18.5 percent this quarter after an 8.6 percent increase in the first quarter. Residential structures fell 13.3 percent in the second quarter, compared with a 25.1 percent decrease in the first quarter.

The department attributes the second quarter acceleration in real GDP to a larger decrease in imports, which subtracts from the GDP. The increase also resulted from "an acceleration in exports, a smaller decrease in residential fixed investment, an acceleration in nonresidential structures, an upturn in state and local government spending and an acceleration in [personal consumption expenditures] that were partly offset by larger decreases in inventory investment and in equipment and software," the department said in the release.

Click to read the release. 

Local Figures

[  ]

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/

Mortgages
Free Webcams Chat Rooms