Off the wire
• Urgent: Nadal withdraws from French Open due to injury  • Roundup: Head transplant plan sparks skepticism in Italy  • French consumer confidence rises in May despite protests  • Duterte, Robredo official winners of 2016 polls  • China penalizes illegal market operations  • U.S. stocks open higher ahead of Yellen's speech  • India orders probe into attack on Nigerian student  • Feature: Greece evacuates largest informal refugee camp at Greek border village  • Delay in separating opposition from terror groups may overturn truce in Syria: Russia  • Beijing's new sub-center must be people-oriented: Xi  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. economic growth in first quarter revised up

Xinhua, May 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

The U.S. economy in the first quarter expanded faster than previously estimated, driven by strong growth in residential investment.

The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.8 percent during January and March, higher than the advance estimate of 0.5 percent, said the U.S. Commerce Department on Friday.

The upward revision primarily reflected upward revisions to private inventory investment and residential fixed investment.

According to the Commerce Department, residential investment contributed 0.6 percentage point to the GDP growth in the first quarter, compared to the 0.5 percentage point in the advance estimate. The private inventory investment dragged the economic growth down by 0.2 percentage point, lower than the advance estimate of 0.3 percentage point.

Strong growth in residential investment boosted real GDP growth, but weakness in business investment and exports, exacerbated by weak foreign demand and low oil prices, continued to weigh on growth, said Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under the White House.

Recent economic data for the second quarter indicated that the economic growth in the second quarter will accelerate from the first quarter. The U.S. job market continued to improve, and there are signs for accelerated wage gains, which are expected to support consumer spending and lessen the downside risks to the overall economic growth outlook, according to some analysts. Endi