US economy grows 1.5% in Q2 on consumer, business spending

Business Aug 26, 2026

The US economy grew by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to new government data.

This bump was mostly powered by people spending more and businesses investing, even though government spending actually dropped by 1%.

For context, the economy had grown a bit faster (2.1%) earlier in the year.

Consumer spending 3.4%, business investment 8.5%

Consumer spending jumped 3.4%, beating earlier estimates, and business investment shot up by 8.5%, both signs that people and companies are still feeling confident about buying and building.

However, government cutbacks slowed things down a bit, and inflation ticked up slightly to an annualized rate of 3.6%.

Meanwhile, after a few strong months, real consumer spending held steady in July instead of growing further.