Economic Buzz: US Real GDP growth softens

The US real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the second quarter of 2026, according to the second estimate released today by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.1 percent. The contributors to the increase in real GDP in the second quarter were increases in consumer spending, exports, and investment that were partly offset by a decrease in government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased. Compared to the first quarter, the deceleration in real GDP in the second quarter reflected a downturn in government spending and decelerations in investment and exports that were partly offset by an acceleration in consumer spending. Imports increased more in the second quarter than in the first quarter. Real final sales to private domestic purchasers, the sum of consumer spending and gross private fixed investment, increased 4.2 percent in the second quarter, revised up 0.3 percentage point from the previous estimate.

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