Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released their third and final installment of the Q1 2009 GDP report showing a (revised) significant contraction with GDP declining at an annual rate of -5.5%.Easily the most notable features of today’s report are the stunning declines to residential and non-residential as well as exports of both goods and services.
Fixed investment provided significant drags on growth with non-residential investment declining a whopping -37.3% and residential investment plunging -38.8% while exports of goods and services declined -30.6%.
Making a positive contribution to GDP were equally stunning declines to imports of goods and services slumping -36.4% (with and over 40% decline to the import of goods) as well as positive personal consumption expenditures increasing 1.4%.
The following chart shows real residential and non-residential fixed investment versus overall GDP since Q1 2003 (click for larger version).
