The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased an annual rate of 1.7 percent between the first quarter and second quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In the first quarter, GDP increased 3.7 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2009.
GDP measures the output of goods and services produced by labor and property.
The bureau said the quarter’s growth was due primarily to personal consumption expenditures, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, private inventory investment and federal government spending. The slow-down in growth from the first quarter was due to a sharp increase in imports and a sharp deceleration in private inventory investments.
