Upward Revision To 1Q GDP In The Offing?

Might the United States economy have put up a stronger showing than had been thought previously for the first quarter?

The New York Times reports that the quarterly U.S. Services Survey put out by the Commerce Department showed that consumption grew faster than had been calculated by the government, at least as had been announced in its second estimate of GDP that was published in May.

Now it looks like consumer spending for Q1 2017, which has been reported accounts for two-thirds of the economy, could be revised as much as 80 basis points higher. With that boost from the services’ data, the new tally would be 1.4 growth on an annual basis, though the actual magnitude of the revision will not be known until June 29. The total GDP for the first quarter would, as a result, come in at a 1.5 percent annualized rate from the 1.2 percent reported.

The revision would also mark an improvement from what had been held to be the slowest annual pace logged for the statistic since the fourth quarter of 2009. The 1.2 percent rate for the fourth quarter as revised was better than the 0.7 percent originally estimated.

At the time, economists said that economic targets of 3 percent growth, as maintained by the current presidential administration, may be tough to reach. Despite the sluggish growth, some economists told newswires, the Federal Reserve may still be poised to boost interest rates.