N.Y. Fed lifts 2nd-quarter U.S. GDP growth view above 2%

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is growing at a 2.08% annualized pace in the second quarter based on upbeat data on durable goods orders and new home sales in March, the New York Federal Reserve's Nowcast model showed on Friday.

This was faster than the 1.92% growth rate calculated by the N.Y. Fed model the week before.

"Positive surprises from manufacturing data and housing data accounted for most of the increase," the regional central bank said on its website.

On Thursday, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S.-made capital goods rose by 1.3% in March, the most in eight months, hitting their highest on record.

Data earlier this week showed sales of new U.S. single-family homes increased by 4.5% to a near 1-1/2-year high in March, boosted by lower mortgage rates and house prices, Commerce said.

Meanwhile, the department said on Friday its initial estimate of gross domestic product growth in the first quarter was 3.2%, faster than the 2.0% pace projected by economists polled by Reuters.

This compared with the New York Fed's GDP estimate of 1.43% for the first quarter.

(Reporting by Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and James Dalgleish)

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