7/27/2012 9:30:00 AM
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The U.S. economy grew at a 1.5% annual rate in the second quarter as consumers trimmed spending, the Commerce Department reported Friday.
Commerce also said in its report on gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, that the economy increased at a revised 2% clip in the first quarter.
The report showed household spending rose at a 1.5% clip from April through June, down from a 2.4% gain in the prior quarter.
Business inventories rose $66.3 billion in the last quarter, contributing nearly a third of a percentage point to GDP growth. Excluding inventories, GDP rose at a 1.2% rate, the weakest pace since the first quarter of 2011. In the first quarter, the comparable figure was 2.4%.
Corporate spending on equipment and software improved, climbing at a 7.2% pace, up from a 5.4% increase in the previous quarter.
Commerce on Friday also revised older figures. The final quarter of last year was revised up to a 4.1% gain, the best performance in almost six years. The fourth-quarter gain was previously reported as 3%.
The department also said that GDP grew 2.5% in the 12 months after the contraction ended in June 2009, compared with the 3.3% gain previously reported.
The GDP estimate is the first of three for the second quarter, with the additional releases scheduled for August and September as more information becomes available.
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