Economy growth revised higher

The U.S. gross domestic product estimate for the first quarter was revised up to 0.9%, from a predicted 0.6%, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported this morning. The GDP estimate doesn’t meet the technical criteria for a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of declining GDP growth. “The revision to the first-quarter growth rate reflected lower imports that were mostly offset by lower inventory investment,” according to a BEA press release. Quarterly GDP is computed by the bureau at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. The BEA also released a somber estimate of corporate profits of just 1.7% for the first quarter — a decrease from the fourth-quarter 2007 estimate of 2.5%. The BEA attributed this slowdown to “an increase in profits from foreign affiliates of U.S. companies. In contrast, profits of domestic corporations declined.”