The economy slowed dramatically in the second quarter of 1995, expanding at the weakest pace in nearly four years.
But the 1.1 percent annual rate of growth for the April-June quarter, reported Wednesday by the Commerce Department, was larger than previously estimated, thanks largely to higher consumer spending.Analysts said in advance of the report that the economy is not headed for recession and already is shaking off some sluggishness. They predict solid if unspectacular gains in gross domestic product by the end of the year and into 1996.
The government said a month ago that GDP, measuring all goods and services produced in the United States, grew at an anemic 0.5 percent rate in the spring.
In Wednesday's updated figures, the Commerce Department said upward revisions in consumer spending and business investment in inventories offset downward revisions for net exports and government spending.
The department also said that, using a new method of calculating growth that it is phasing in this year, GDP expanded only 0.5 percent in the second quarter. The new method will formally replace the older system at the end of 1995 and is designed to measure price changes more accurately.
The Commerce Department also said that after-tax corporate profits grew less rapidly in the second quarter, rising 1.5 percent after increasing 3.8 percent in the first three months of the year.