WASHINGTON Cheap Nike Air VaporMax Sunset , July 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. economy rose at a faster pace in the second quarter after a weak start of this year, suggesting a steady economic progress would support the Federal Reserve to move closer to its first interest rate hike this year.

The U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the second quarter, a moderate bounce from the revised 0.6 percent increase in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Strong personal consumption led the rebound as consumers spent more of the windfall gains from lower oil prices they had saved in the first quarter Cheap Nike Air VaporMax Be True , and many of the temporary factors that restrained growth in the first quarter faded, Jason Furman, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said in a statement on Thursday.

In the second quarter Cheap Nike Air VaporMax Mens , the rise in GDP growth was led by a faster pace of personal consumption growth than the first quarter and a shift from negative to positive net export growth.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the U. S. economy, rose 2.9 percent in the second quarter, compared to an increase of 1.8 percent in the first. The saving rate fell to 4.8 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter's 5.2 percent.

As the value of U.S. dollar stabilizes Cheap Nike Air VaporMax Womens , net exports, which subtracted 1.92 percentage points from the first quarter's GDP growth, contributed 0.13 percentage point to the growth in the second quarter.

The Commerce Department also said on Thursday that the economy grew at a 0.6 percent rate in the first quarter, an upward revision from a previously reported 0.2 percent contraction.

However Cheap Nike VaporMax Flyknit Mens , weaker business investment and federal government spending have partly offset the positive contributions from consumer spending and improved net exports.

Non-residential fixed investment decreased 0.6 percent in the second quarter, in contrast to an increase of 1.6 percent in the first; and federal government spending decreased 1.1 percent in the second quarter, compared to an increase of 1.1 percent in the first.

Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen said earlier this month that, as the value of the dollar and crude oil prices stabilize Cheap Nike VaporMax Flyknit Womens , some of the headwinds restraining economic growth, including the negative effects of U.S. dollar appreciation on net imports and low energy prices on oil drilling industry investment, would diminish over the course of this year.

Thursday's GDP report was consistent with the Federal Reserve's assessment of the economy. The Fed said on Wednesday that economic activity has been expanding moderately in recent months despite a soft business investment.

Fed officials on Wednesday upgraded their assessment of the job market and housing market, a sign that the central bank remains on track to raise interest rates later this year. But it did not provide a clear signal for the rate hike timetable.

Although Fed officials believed they are approaching to achieve the goal of maximum employment Cheap Nike Air VaporMax Flyknit , one of the central bank's dual mandates, the inflation, the other mandate for the Fed, has remained below its 2 percent target for years.

John Williams Cheap Nike VaporMax 2.0 Womens , president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said earlier this month that, with oil prices having moved back up from past lows and the dollar retracing some of its past gains, their effects on inflation will recede.

In addition Cheap Nike VaporMax 2.0 Mens , with the economy nearing "full strength," there will be signs that underlying inflation trends are coming back up, said Williams. He expected the economic growth to average about 2. 75 percent from the second quarter to the end of this year.

With Fed officials seeing continued improvements in job markets and confident that inflation would come back to the central bank's target, the central bank is on track to hike interest rates. Yellen has said that officials expected to start the move later this year.

Market investors widely see September or even later as the most likely time for a Fed rate increase. The Fed has kept its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero since December 2008.

NAIROBI， June 23 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan athletics authorities on Thursday questioned the proposed stringent testing ahead of the Rio Olympic Games， terming the move as discriminatory.

Athletics Kenya (AK) Senior Vice-President， Paul Mutwii， said they have no objection with the latest move from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) so long as the same will be applicable to all athletes， but it would be an act of prejudice if it is applied selectively.

"Singling out individual countries for extra tests is a discriminative idea and therefore unacceptable. We will only allow it if it will be applied across board to include all athletes，" Mutwii told Xinhua in Nairobi.

"We must be convinced that the new regulations will be for the benefit of all athletes， otherwise we find it intimidating and it will affect the performance of our athletes during the Games，" Mutwii said.

The IOC has imposed stringent regulations that both Russian and Kenyan athletes will have to pass a series of extra doping checks to be declared eligible to take part in the Games.

The East African nation has been facing the threat of an Olympic ban after moving to the brink of being put on probation by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over its failure to get to grips with its drugs problem.

The country was given a window by WADA to prove it was tackling cheating in athletics before being placed on a watch list of nations at risk of being in breach of the agency' s code.

Failure to confront its issues would see Kenya declared non-compliant with the code， something that has already led top Russia' s track and field athletes being banned from competing.

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