By The U.S. economy grew at an even stronger pace then previously indicated in the third quarter, the product of better-than-expected business investment and stronger government spending, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced during the three-month period, accelerated at a 5.2% annualized pace, the department’s second estimate showed. The acceleration topped the initial 4.9% reading and was better than the 5% forecast from economists polled by Dow Jones.
Primarily, the upward revision came from increases in nonresidential fixed investment, which includes structures, equipment and intellectual property. The category showed a rise of 1.3%, which still marked a sharp downward shift from previous quarters.
Government spending also helped boost the Q3 estimate, rising 5.5% for the July-through-September period.
However, consumer spending saw a downward revision, now rising just 3.6%, compared with 4% in the initial estimate.
There was some mixed news on the inflation front. The personal consumption expenditures price index, a gauge the Federal Reserve follows closely, increased 2.8% for the period, a 0.1 percentage point downward revision. However, the chain-weighted price index increased 3.6%, a 0.1 percentage point upward move.
Corporate profits accelerated 4.3% during the period, up sharply from the 0.8% gain in the second quarter.
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