Second Quarter GDP Fell 1%, Unrevised From Previous Estimate

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Thursday morning, the Commerce Department released its second estimate of gross domestic product in the second quarter, showing that the pace of decline in economic activity was unrevised from the advance estimate.

The report showed that GDP decreased at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the second quarter, unchanged from the 1.0 percent decrease originally reported in late July. Economists had been expecting GDP to be revised to show a decrease of 1.5 percent.

With the drop in second quarter GDP unrevised from the previous estimate, it continued to mark a substantial slowdown from the 6.4 percent decrease seen in the first quarter.

The drop in second quarter GDP was unrevised because upward revisions to consumer spending, exports, residential fixed investment, and government spending were offset by downward revisions to private inventory investment and non-residential fixed investment.

Consumer spending fell by a revised 1.0 percent in the second quarter compared to the 1.2 percent decrease that was reported previously. Nonetheless, the drop in consumer spending still marks a downturn from the 0.6 percent growth seen in the first quarter.

At the same time, the report showed that gross private investment was revised to show a 24.4 percent decrease compared to the 20.4 percent drop that was originally reported. Non-residential structures showed a notable decline, falling by 15.1 percent.

The Commerce Department also said that its reading on core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the second quarter, unrevised from the previous estimate.

In other economic news, the number of people filing for first-time unemployment benefits edged down last week, according to a report released by the Labor Department, although jobless claims remain at a relatively high level.

Still, the size of the government's unemployment rolls fell for the fifth time in the last seven weeks, dropping to its lowest level in about 5 months.

The Labor Department said that initial jobless claims edged down to 570,000 in the week ended August 22nd from the previous week's revised figure of 580,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to slip to 565,000 from the 576,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Continuing claims, which measure the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment help, fell to 6.133 million for the week ended August 15. The closely watched continuing claims number is now at its lowest level since early April.

Thursday morning, the Commerce Department released its second estimate of gross domestic product in the second quarter, showing that the pace of decline in economic activity was unrevised from the advance estimate. The report showed that GDP decreased at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the second quarter, unchanged from the 1.0 percent decrease originally reported in late July. Economists had been expecting GDP to be revised to show a decrease of 1.5 percent. (Market News Provided by RTTNews)