Thursday, September 27, 2012

Bull Trip!: GDP Report Q2 2012 (Third Estimate)

Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released their third "estimate" of the Q2 2012 GDP report showing that the economy continued to expand with real GDP increasing at a tepid annualized rate of 1.3% from Q1 2012.

On a year-over-year basis real GDP increased 2.14% while the quarter-to-quarter non-annualized percent change was 0.31%.

The latest quarterly results indicate that the most notable source of weakness in the economy came from durable goods spending which declined at a rate of 0.2% from Q1 2012 while government spending declined across the board. 

Other categories such as residential structures also saw notable slowing from the prior quarter registering a still respectable rate of 8.5% while non-residential fixed structures expand by just 0.6%. 

Keep in mind that these results are likely very poorly estimated and are sure to be revised notably in following quarters and even years to come.