US confirms 2,5% growth in the second quarter.
However, the consumer purchase price index, which is the Federal Reserve's main measure of inflation, fell at a rate of 0,1 percent; this indication is worrying for the national economy because it suggests that businesses have little power to raise prices.
By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) The U.S. government left its estimate for the country's economic growth in the second quarter unchanged, but reported that prices of goods and services purchased by American households fell for the first time in four years.
The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 2,5 percent in the period from April to June.
Also in the report, the department said that its consumer purchase price index, which is the Federal Reserve's main measure of inflation, fell at a rate of 0,1 percent.
This is a worrying sign for the national economy because it suggests that companies have little power to raise prices.
This was the first decline since the first quarter of 2009, which had some of the darkest days of the 2007-2009 recession.
Even excluding volatile food and energy costs, prices rose at a rate of only 0,6 percent, also the weakest reading for this so-called core category since the beginning of 2009.
The report also showed that government austerity measures weighed slightly less on US economic growth than initially estimated in the second quarter, reducing the growth rate by about 0,1 percentage point.
(Reporting by Jason Lange)