A Decrease in GDP isn’t all Bad News
The smaller decrease in real GDP in the first quarter than in the fourth reflected a larger decrease in imports, an upturn in personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for durable goods, and a smaller decrease in PCE for nondurable goods. These were partly offset by larger decreases in private inventory investment and in nonresidential structures and a downturn in federal government spending. – Courtesy of www.finweek.info
Real gross domestic product—the output of goods and services produced by labor and property, decreased at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the first quarter of 2009. In the fourth quarter, real GDP decreased 6.3 percent.
The decrease in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from exports, equipment and software, private inventory investment, nonresidential structures, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a positive contribution from personal consumption expenditures (PCE). – Courtesy of Bureau of Economic Analysis
