GDP (Second Estimate) and Corporate Profits, 1st Quarter 2026

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis source. Statistical tables, charts, standard technical appendices and administrative material are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's original vintage and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete release and current data.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2026 (January, February, and March), according to the second estimate released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2025, real GDP increased 0.5 percent.

The contributors to the increase in real GDP in the first quarter were exports, investment, consumer spending, and government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

Real GDP was revised down 0.4 percentage point from the advance estimate, primarily reflecting downward revisions to investment and consumer spending. For more information, refer to the "Technical Notes" below.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, the acceleration in real GDP in the first quarter of 2026 reflected upturns in government spending and exports and an acceleration in investment that were partly offset by a deceleration in consumer spending. Imports turned up.

Real final sales to private domestic purchasers, the sum of consumer spending and gross private fixed investment, increased 2.4 percent in the first quarter, revised down 0.1 percentage point from the previous estimate.

The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 3.5 percent in the first quarter, revised down 0.1 percentage point from the previous estimate. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 4.5 percent, the same as previously estimated, and the PCE price index excluding food and energy increased 4.4 percent, revised up 0.1 percentage point.

Real gross domestic income (GDI) increased 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2026, compared with an increase of 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025. The average of real GDP and real GDI increased 1.3 percent, compared with an increase of 1.1 percent.

Profits from current production (corporate profits with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments) increased $40.4 billion in the first quarter, compared with an increase of $246.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025.