Real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the first quarter of 2014, according to the second estimate GDP report. It was the first time economic output contracted since the first quarter of 2011, when it declined at a 1.3 percent pace. The second estimate was revised down 1.1 percentage points, or $43.7 billion, from the advance estimate issued last month, primarily reflecting a downward revision to private inventory investment, which subtracted 1.6 percent from overall GDP growth, and net exports, which subtracted 0.95 percentage point from GDP growth as a result of an upward revision to imports (which rose at a 0.7 percent pace, compared with the initial estimate that they declined at a 1.4 percent pace).
