The first reading on second quarter U.S. GDP growth from the Bureau of Economic Analysis puts growth at 2.6% year over year. That’s below the consensus of 2.8% growth among economists surveyed by Briefing.com. But an important advance from the growth rate in the first quarter, which was revised downward to 1.2% from 1.4%.
The figures on second quarter GDP put the average growth for the first half of 2017 at 1.9%. From 2013 to 2016 GDP increased at an average rate of 2.3%, according to revised data also released today. That’s subpar for an economic recovery and the growth rate for the first half of 2017 is below even that anemic rate.
Still, there’s good news here since growth in the second quarter did rebound from worryingly weak growth in the first quarter.
And, for those worried about the Federal Reserve moving to raise interest rates more rapidly than expected, these numbers say Nah!.
