GDP and the Economy: Advance Estimates for the Third Quarter of 2012

摘要

REAL GROSS domestic product (GDP) increased 2.0 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter of 2012 after increasing 1.3 percent in the second quarter, according to the advance estimates of the national income and product accounts (NIPAs) (chart 1 and table 1). The acceleration in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected an upturn in federal government spending, a downturn in imports, an acceleration in consumer spending, a smaller decrease in inventory investment, an acceleration in residential fixed investment, and a smaller decrease in state and local government spending that were partly offset by downturns in exports and in nonresidential fixed investment.