BEA Releases Third Quarter GDP (Second Estimate) (Nov. 2018)

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018 according to the \""second\"" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter real GDP increased 4.2 percent.

The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the \""advance\"" estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate the increase in real GDP was also 3.5 percent. With this second estimate for the third quarter the general picture of economic growth remains the same; upward revisions to nonresidential fixed investment and private inventory investment were offset by downward revisions to personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and state and local government spending.

The deceleration in real GDP growth in the third quarter primarily reflected a downturn in exports and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment and in PCE. Imports increased in the third quarter after decreasing in the second. These movements were partly offset by an upturn in private inventory investment.