A
report from the Commerce Department showed on Wednesday that the U.S. economy
grew more than previously estimated in the third quarter of 2021, mainly
reflecting upward revisions to personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and
private inventory investment, which, however, were partly offset by a downward
revision to exports.
According
to the final - third - estimate, the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at
an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the third quarter, better than a 2.1 percent expansion
reported in the second estimate.
Economists
had expected the growth rate to remain unrevised at 2.1 percent.
In
the second quarter, the U.S. economy grew by 6.7 percent q-o-q.
The
advance in real GDP in the third quarter was driven by gains in PCE, state and
local government spending, private inventory investment, and nonresidential
fixed investment. These increases, however, were partly offset by declines in residential
fixed investment, federal government spending, and exports. Meanwhile, imports,
which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, grew.