Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 6.5 percent in the second quarter of 2021 (table 1), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 6.3 percent (revised). The GDP estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see "Source Data for the Advance Estimate" on page 3). The "second" estimate for the second quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on August 26, 2021.The increase in real GDP in the second quarter reflected ... (full story)

The U.S. economy accelerated at a strong pace in the second quarter in a sign that the U.S. has escaped the shackles of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced during the April-to-June period, accelerated TK% on an annualized basis. However, the gain was considerably less than the 8.4% Dow Jones estimate. The gain also was a yardstick for how far the economy has come from the shutdowns imposed during the early days of the pandemic, when government across the country halted large swaths of economic activity to combat the ... (full story)