The U.S. economy advanced a bit less vigorously than estimated in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday, but showed no signs of breaking stride.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of national economic activity, grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the quarter, down from the 3.6 percent rate reported a month ago, the Commerce Department said. Price inflation, though revised upward, remained muted.
“The final result shows an economy exhibiting no significant slowdown,” said economist Allen Sinai of Primark Decision Economics Inc. in Boston, who forecast growth near a 3 percent rate in the current quarter, which ends Tuesday.
“There was a slight second-quarter inventory overhang that some third-quarter data already show is being worked down in an orderly fashion,” Sinai added. “The picture is one of solid and extraordinarily well-balanced growth with low inflation.”
Prices picked up a bit more quickly than estimated a month ago, but not at a pace to prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates at a scheduled session Tuesday, analysts said.
“There is virtually no possibility of anything happening on Sept. 30,” said economist Sung Won Sohn of Norwest Corp. in Minneapolis.
Price rises in the second quarter, while revised up, were slower than in the first quarter and relatively low by historical standards.
The implicit price deflator rose at 1.8 percent, instead of 1.5 percent, after a first-quarter rise of 2.4 percent–still the lowest rate since a 1.7 percent gain in the 1996 second quarter.
In another report Friday, the University of Michigan said consumer confidence in the economy remains high.
