Revision shows mild US economic contraction in second quarter

The US economy contracted at a moderate pace than initially thought in the second quarter as consumer spending blunted some of the drag from a slower pace of inventory accumulation, dispelling fears that a recession was underway.

Gross domestic product shrank at a 0.6% annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its second estimate of GDP on Thursday. That was an upward revision from the previously estimated 0.9% pace of decline. The economy contracted at a 1.6% rate in the first quarter.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected that GDP would be revised slightly up to show output falling at a 0.8% rate.

While the two-straight quarterly decreases in GDP meet the standard definition of a technical recession, broader measures of economic activity suggest a slow pace of expansion rather than a downturn.

Underlying retail sales were much stronger than initially reported in May, and that strength persisted through June and July. Industrial production raced to a record high in July, while business spending on equipment was solid. The labor market continues to churn out jobs at a brisk clip.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of recessions in the United States, defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators."

But the risk of a recession has increased as the Federal Reserve aggressively raises interest rates to cool demand in order to curb inflation, souring both business and consumer sentiment. The US central bank has hiked its policy rate 225 basis points since March.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's address on Friday at the annual Jackson Hole global central banking conference in Wyoming could shed more light on whether the US central bank can engineer an economic slowdown without triggering a recession.

The labor market is a key piece of that puzzle. Though interest rate-sensitive industries like housing and technology are laying off workers, broad-based job cuts have yet to materialize, leaving the overall labor market tight.

A separate report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 243,000 for the week ended 20 Aug. Claims have been bouncing around 250,000 since hitting an eight-month high of 261,000 in mid-July.

The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid dropped 19,000 to 1.415 million during the week ending 13 Aug. The so-called continuing claims, a proxy for hiring, covered the week during which the government surveyed households for August's unemployment rate.

The jobless rate fell to a pre-pandemic low of 3.5% in July from 3.6% in June. There were 10.7 million job openings at the end of June, with 1.8 openings for every unemployed worker.