Fra BEA:
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2017 (table 1), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2016, real GDP increased 2.1 percent. The Bureau emphasized that the first-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see “Source Data for the Advance Estimate” on page 2). The "second" estimate for the first quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on May 26, 2017.
The increase in real GDP in the first quarter reflected positive contributions from nonresidential fixed investment, exports, residential fixed investment, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE), that were offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment, state and local government spending, and federal government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased (table 2). The deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter reflected a deceleration in PCE and downturns in private inventory investment and in state and local government spending that were partly offset by an upturn in exports and accelerations in both nonresidential and residential fixed investment. _box Upcoming Annual Update of the National Income and Product Accounts The annual update of the national income and product accounts, covering the first quarter of 2014 through the first quarter of 2017, will be released along with the "advance" estimate of GDP for the second quarter of 2017 on July 28. For more information, see the Technical Note. ___ Current-dollar GDP increased 3.0 percent, or $137.9 billion, in the first quarter to a level of $19,007.3 billion. In the fourth quarter, current-dollar GDP increased 4.2 percent, or $194.1 billion (table 1 and table 3). The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 2.6 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter (table 4). The PCE price index increased 2.4 percent, compared with an increase of 2.0 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index increased 2.0 percent, compared with an increase of 1.3 percent (appendix table A). Personal Income (table 10) Current-dollar personal income increased $161.9 billion in the first quarter, compared with an increase of $154.6 billion in the fourth. The acceleration in personal income primarily reflected an acceleration in government social benefits to persons that was partly offset by a downturn in personal dividend income. Disposable personal income increased $121.0 billion, or 3.4 percent, in the first quarter, compared with an increase of $141.6 billion, or 4.1 percent, in the fourth. Real disposable personal income increased 1.0 percent, compared with an increase of 2.0 percent. Personal saving was $814.2 billion in the first quarter, compared with $778.9 billion in the fourth. The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 5.7 percent in the first quarter, compared with 5.5 percent in the fourth.
