Washington: The US economy contracted 1 per
cent in the second quarter of 2009 against 6.4 per cent
decline in the first three months, signalling that the
country is probably slowly coming out of the worst financial
turmoil in nearly 80 years.
The advanced official GDP estimate remains the same as
last month' s preliminary projection of 1 per cent negative
growth.
"Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and
services produced by labor and property located in the US --
decreased at an annual rate of one per cent in the second
quarter of 2009," the US Bureau of Economic Analysis said in a
statement today.
Rattled by recession since December 2008, the American
economy shrank by 6.4 per cent in the first three months of
this year.
The latest GDP figure comes amid rising hopes of an early
economy recovery -- both in the US and abroad -- primarily
after industrialised nations like Germany and Japan exiting
recession.
According to the BEA, the lesser rate of economic
contraction is mainly due to increased federal government
spending and smaller decline in non-residential fixed
investment and in exports.
Adding to the optimism, initial claims for unemployment
benefits fell by 10,000 to 570,000 for the week ended August
22.
"In the week ending August 22, the advance figure for
seasonally adjusted initial claims was 570,000, a decrease of
10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 580,000,"
the US Labor Department said in a separate statement.
Further, the count of people getting jobless benefits
dropped 119,000 to 6,133,000 for the week ended August 15.
"The four-week moving average was 6,241,750, a decrease
of 27,000 from the preceding week's revised average of
6,268,750," the statement noted.
Meanwhile, corporate profits for the second quarter rose
USD 67.6 billion compared to an increase of USD 59.1 billion
in the first three months of 2009.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, August 27, 2009, 22:15