A report from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday that the U.S.
economy expanded less
than previously estimated in the third quarter of 2023, due mainly to a downward
revision to consumer spending. In addition, imports, which are a subtraction in
the calculation of GDP, were revised down.
According to the third estimate, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) expanded
at an annual rate of 4.9 per cent in the third quarter, being below the 5.2 per cent advance reported in
the second estimate. Still, this was the strongest growth rate since the fourth
quarter of 2021 (+7.0 per cent q-o-q).
Economists had anticipated the growth rate to remain unrevised at 5.2 per
cent per cent q-o-q.
In the previous quarter, the economy rose by 2.1 per cent q-o-q.
The third-quarter increase in real GDP reflected gains in consumer
spending, private inventory investment, exports, state and local government
spending, federal government spending, residential fixed investment, and
nonresidential fixed investment. Meanwhile, imports went up.