U.S. Economy Grows By 1.3% In 2nd Quarter

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 1.3% in the second quarter of 2002,
according to revised estimates released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In the first quarter, real GDP increased 5%.
The major contributors to the slight increase in real GDP in the second quarter were private inventory investment, exports, personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and federal government spending, according to the Commerce Department.
"The change is too small to have any impact on the economic outlook", said Jim Haughey, Newport Communications' senior economist.
"But this small revision has some sour news for motor freight. Consumer spending for goods, business investment in equipment and goods exports were all lowered slightly with a more than offsetting upward revision for services exports."
Nonetheless, Haughey expects economic growth in the current quarter, which ends today, to be about 3.5% because of the higher spending for homes, cars and mortgage refinancing during the summer.
Although there are no signs of it yet, the summer spending boom may ease in the fall, resulting in another slowdown in GDP growth.