The U.S. economy expanded in the first quarter of 2017 as real gross domestic product grew at a rate of 0.7 percent, which was below expectations, according to the advanced estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Real GDP represents the value of the production of goods and services in the economy and is adjusted for inflation. The second quarter growth in 2017 of 0.7 percent, which includes performance from January, February, and March, was a decline from the 2.1 percent growth seen in the fourth quarter of 2016.
According to economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal, first-quarter growth was projected to increase at 1 percent.
Real GDP in the first quarter of 2017 did show an increase from the previous year, when GDP expanded at 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to the advance estimate.
"The deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter reflected a deceleration in [personal consumption expenditures] and downturns in private inventory investment and in state and local government spending that were partly offset by an upturn in exports and accelerations in both nonresidential and residential fixed investment," the report said.
The bureau will release its second estimate for the first quarter of 2017 on May 27.
