GDP Growth Slows in First Quarter of 2012
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Analysts were anticipating something in the range of 2.6 precent. In the fourth quarter of 2011, real GDP increased 3.0 percent.
The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, private inventory investment, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending, nonresidential fixed investment, and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.
The deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected a deceleration in private inventory investment and a downturn in nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by accelerations in PCE and in exports.
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