WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The following is the technical note explaining the offsetting elements of change in the third reading of second quarter U.S. GDP which kept the growth rate at 2.0%, as expected:
Sources of Revision to Real GDP
Real GDP increased 2.0 percent (annual rate) in the second quarter of 2019, the same as in the “second” estimate. The estimate reflected downward revisions to consumer spending and nonresidential investment that were primarily offset by upward revisions to state and local government spending and exports, and a downward revision to imports
•The downward revision to consumer spending reflected downward revisions to goods and services. The largest contributor to the revision in goods was food and beverages purchased for off-premises consumption based on Census Bureau Monthly Retail Sales Report data. The largest contributor to the revision in services was “other services,” notably personal care and clothing services, based on updated second-quarter Census Quarterly Services Report data.
•The downward revision to nonresidential investment was primarily to structures, notably manufacturing structures. The revisions primarily reflected updated Census construction spending data.
•The upward revision to state and local government spending was to structures reflecting updated Census construction spending data.
•The revisions to exports and imports reflected updated statistics from BEA’s International Transactions Accounts (ITAs).
Real final sales to private domestic purchasers, which measures private demand in the domestic economy and is derived as the sum of consumer spending and private fixed investment, increased 3.3 percent in the second quarter, a downward revision of 0.2 percentage point.