The report said real gross domestic product climbed by 2.1% in the third quarter compared to the previously reported 1.5% increase. Consumer spending, the main engine of USA economic growth, rose 3% instead of 3.2%.
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“Importantly, domestic demand in the USA economy remains very solid, something that will surely give comfort to the Fed as it ponders its next move”. That matched the forecast of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
The Department of Commerce and Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.1% in the third quarter of 2015. That is better than its previous estimate of 1.5 percent growth.
And here is where you get to see just how big these numbers are compared to the rest of the world The Current-dollar GDP, the actual market value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy (less the value of the goods and services used up in production) was up by some 3.4%, or $151.0 billion, in the third quarter. But that was an improvement from the government’s first estimate a month ago that reduced inventory stockpiling had cut growth by 1.4 percentage points.
The revision was largely due to a smaller decrease in private inventory investment than previously estimated, which offset downward revisions, notably to consumer spending.
But Tuesday’s report will be the last read for Federal Reserve officials before their next meeting December 15-16, when many economists expect the central bank to raise short-term interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. However, business spending on equipment was revised up to a 9.5 percent rate from a 5.3 percent pace.
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USA economic growth for the third quarter has been revised up, helped by stronger investment and house building. Though there are signs consumer spending slowed early in the fourth quarter, it is likely to remain supported by a tightening labour market, rising house prices, which are raising household wealth, as well as low inflation. It has kept its benchmark rate at a record low near zero for seven years.
