The US economy posted its worst contraction on record in Q2 2020

During the second quarter of 2020, the US economy shrank by the massive 32.9% q/q, annualized, the biggest drop on record, diving deeper down after declining by 5% q/q in Q1. On an annual basis, real GDP in the US decreased by 9.5% y/y in Q2, following a marginal increase of 0.3% y/y in Q1.

Personal consumption expenditure has the largest negative contribution to the q/q change (-25.05 percentage points), followed by gross private domestic investment (-9.36% pp). Net exports and government spending have negligible positive contributions, 0.68 pp and 0.82 pp, respectively. Government spending is the only component, increasing in Q2, posting 2.7% q/q growth, annualised.

Further data and analysis on the US economy could be found on the CEIC US Economy in a Snapshot – Q2 2020 report.