A surge in exports and smaller decline in inventories helped boost the economy more than previously estimated in the second quarter, Bloomberg reported.

The gross domestic product from April through June increased at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent, more than the initial estimate of 1.9 percent last month, according to a Commerce Department report. This is compared with a 0.9 percent expansion in the first quarter. It was the biggest gain since the third quarter of 2007.

The biggest contributor to economic expansion was that the trade gap narrowed to a $376.6 billion annual pace, which added 3.1 percentage points to economic growth. Meanwhile, inventories fell at a $49.4 billion annual rate, down from $62.2 billion first estimated. However, this still caused a 1.44 percentage point decrease in economic growth.

Consumer spending grew at a revised 1.7 annual rate in the second quarter, up from the 1.5 percent previously estimated and 0.9 percent for the first three months of the year. Consumers were enticed to spend with tax rebates, but this could slow in upcoming months as Americans deal with smaller increases in paychecks. Today’s revisions also showed that wages and salaries increased by $52.5 billion in the first three months of the year, $20.2 billion less than previously estimated.

The report gave a first look at corporate profits for the second quarter as well. Profits from current production (earnings adjusted for the value of inventories and depreciation of capital expenditures) fell 2.4 percent to an annual rate of $1.56 trillion. Earnings were down 7 percent from the year-ago period, the biggest decrease since the 2001 recession.