t's The Economy Stupid: Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate

Economic Event	Period	Economic Survey	Actual Reported	Original Prior	Revised Prior
GDP QoQ Annualized	1Q A	3.0%	2.5%	0.4%
Personal Consuption	1Q A	2.8%	3.2%	1.8%
GDP Price Index	1Q A	1.3%	1.2%	1.0%
Core PCE QoQ	1Q A	1.1%	1.2%	1.0%

 

Advance Q1 GDP Shows 2.5% Growth

 

Real gross domestic product (GDP) — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate  of 2.5% in the first quarter of 2013, according to the advance estimate released by the Commerce Department Friday.

 

The GDP growth was short of the 3% increase projected by economists polled by Thomson Reuters, but was much stronger than the 0.4% increase reported in the final quarter of 2012.

 

The advance estimate is an early picture based on incomplete data, and will be revised twice in the coming the months.

 

Personal consumption expenditures increased at an annual rate of 3.2% in the first quarter, after rising at a 1.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2012. That represents the largest quarterly PCE upturn since a 4.1% increase in the final quarter of 2010.

 

The core PCE deflator was up 1.2% in the quarter after a 1.0% gain in the final quarter of 2012. Economists expected a 1.3% rise.

 

Final sales of domestic product grew 1.5% in the period, after 1.9% growth in the prior three months. Economists expected a 2.3% increase.

Exports of goods and services rose 2.9%. Imports, which are a subtraction from GDP, increased 5.4% in the first quarter of 2013. The last time imports increased that much in a quarter was the third quarter of 2010, when imports jumped 13.9%.

 

The overall GDP increase reflected a rise in private inventory investment, the acceleration of PCE, increased exports, and a smaller decline in federal spending, the Commerce Department said.

 

Those factors were partly offset by the increase in imports and a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment. Decreased levels of state and local government spending, which fell 1.2%, were also negative factors for the GDP.

 

The preliminary estimate of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2013, based on more complete data, is scheduled for release May 30.