US Third-Quarter Economic Growth Unrevised At 2.8%

• The American economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September on strong consumer spending and a surge in exports, the government said Wednesday, November 27, 2024, leaving unchanged its initial estimate of third-quarter growth. Consumer spending, at 3.5%, was revised down from the previously estimated 3.7% rate, but up from 2.8% in the April-June period and the fastest growth since the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Furthermore, slight downward revisions to consumer spending, government outlays and exports, were offset by upgrades to private inventory accumulation, and business investment as well as state and local government spending
• The Commerce Department reported that growth in US gross domestic product, the economy’s output of goods and services, slowed from the April-July rate of 3%. However, the GDP report still showed that the US economy is proving surprisingly durable. Notably, growth has topped 2% for eight of the last nine quarters.
• Despite the resilience, the US economy is expanding at a pace that is well above what Federal Reserve officials regard as the non-inflationary growth rate of around 1.8%. Nonetheless, most Wall Street traders expect the Fed to cut rates again in December, with growth remaining steady, unemployment at a low of 4.1%, and inflation (12-month CPI), which hit a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022, having fallen to 2.6%.

(Sources: CNBC & Reuters)