U.S. economy grow faster than initially thought in Q3

A report from the Commerce Department showed on Wednesday that the U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter, due to upward revisions to private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which, however, were partially offset by a downward revision to state and local government spending.

According to the second estimate, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a 2.1 percent annual rate in the third quarter, faster than 1.9 percent reported in the advance estimate.

Economists had expected the growth rate to come in at 1.9 percent, following the second quarter's increase of 2.0 percent.

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter reflected positive contributions from PCE, federal government spending, residential investment, private inventory investment, exports, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by a negative contribution from nonresidential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, rose

Meanwhile, the acceleration in real GDP in the third quarter reflected upturns in private inventory investment, exports, and residential fixed investment. However, these upturns were partly offset by decelerations in PCE, federal government spending, and state and local government spending, and a larger drop in nonresidential fixed investment.