The economy grew at a 4.6 percent clip in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, rebounding from a decline of 2.1 percent in the first quarter.
That was an upward revision from the department’s earlier estimate of 4.2 percent for the second quarter. The revision was based on stronger-than-expected exports and higher rates of business investments. It was in line with Wall Street expectations.
“Growth in consumer spending and business investment picked up in the second quarter, and residential investment increased following two straight quarters of decline. Additionally, state and local government spending grew at the fastest quarterly rate in five years,” said Jason Furman, chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Personal consumption rose by 1.8 percent, with purchases of big-ticket durable goods accounting for 1 percent — more than half of the rise. Spending on health care also rose by a full half percent.
Notably, growth was hampered somewhat by imports growing faster (1.8 percent) than exports (1.4 percent), since the former is subtracted from the GDP figure.
State and local government spending rose by 0.4 percent, up modestly from prior estimates. This was somewhat offset by a 0.1 percent decrease in federal government spending.
