US economy grows 2.2% in Q2, beating expectations

The US economy grew by 2.2% in the second quarter of the year, beating the market forecast of 2.1%, official figures showed Wednesday.

According to the third estimate released by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), GDP was revised up 0.7 percentage points from the second estimate, primarily reflecting upward revisions to investment, consumer spending and government spending.

The contributors to the increase in GDP in the second quarter were consumer spending, investment and exports. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

From an industry perspective, the increase in GDP reflected rises in real value added of 2.5% for private services-producing industries, 2.3% for private goods-producing industries and less than 0.1% for government.

The bureau said: “The leading industry contributors to the increase in real GDP were real estate and rental and leasing, information, durable goods manufacturing, and finance and insurance.

“The leading offsets were decreases in transportation and warehousing, retail trade, and nondurable goods manufacturing.”

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 5%, revised down 0.3 percentage points from the previous estimate, while the PCE price index excluding food and energy rose 3.3%, also revised down 0.3 percentage points, the bureau added.

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