Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 4.8% in the first quarter of 2006, according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis today. In the fourth quarter of 2005, real GDP increased 1.7 percent.

• Final sales of computers contributed 0.11 percentage point to the first-quarter growth in real GDP while motor vehicle output subtracted 0.23 percentage point.

• Current-dollar personal income increased $170.7 billion (6.7 percent) in the first quarter, compared with an increase of $233.3 billion (9.4 percent) in the fourth.

• Real gross domestic purchases -- purchases by U.S. residents of goods and services wherever produced -- increased 5.4 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 2.9 percent in the fourth.

The increase in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), equipment and software, exports, and federal government spending. 

The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, increased 2.7 in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 3.7 percent in the fourth. 

Disposable personal income increased $132.2 billion (5.8 percent) in the first quarter, compared with an increase of $212.7 billion (9.8 percent) in the fourth. Personal outlays increased $166.9 billion (7.4 percent) in the first quarter, compared with an increase of $84.6 billion (3.7 percent) in the fourth.

Current-dollar GDP -- the market value of the nation's output of goods and services -- increased 8.2 percent, or $254.8 billion, in the first quarter to a level of $13,020.9 billion.

GDP : http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/gdpnewsrelease.htm