Decrease to 2% estimate of quarterly US GDP growth was a surprise for experts
Investing.com – The final data released on Thursday show s that the US Department of Commerce lowered the estimate of GDP growth in the 1st quarter of 2018 from 2.2% to 2%, calculated on annual rates.
Analysts of Wall Street didn’t expect revision of the estimate, according to MarketWatch.
In January-March this year, the growth rate of US GDP was the weakest since the first quarter of 2017.
As it was noted in the Ministry of Trade, the deterioration in the estimation of GDP growth reflects, in particular, the weaker than expected earlier dynamics of consumer spending.
The estimate of the increase in consumer spending in the 1st quarter was revised to 0.9% from 1%. In particular, the cost of services grew by 1.5%, and not by 1.8%, as previously was reported.
The export growth estimate was revised to 3.6% from 4.2%, which also contributed to the deterioration of the economic recovery in the US in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the volume of investment in intellectual property in the US in January-March jumped by 13.2%, the maximum rate since the 3rd quarter of 1999. Earlier it was reported an increase of 10.9%.
Investments of US companies in the past quarter increased by 7.6% (previous estimate – 6.5%), investments in equipment increased by 5.8% (5.5%).
Public spending in the past quarter jumped 1.3% in terms of annual rates (1.1%).
The PCE Core Index (Personal Consumption Expenditures, Excluding Food & Energy), which is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve in assessing inflation risks, rose 2.3% in the first quarter. The assessment of the rate of change in the indicator remained unchanged.
Real disposable income of the US population increased by 3.6% in the last quarter (preliminary estimate 3.3%), corporate profits jumped 1.8% compared to the fourth quarter and 6.8% in annual terms.