| The Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing the pace of U.S. economic growth unexpectedly surged by more than previously estimated in the third quarter. The report said gross domestic product shot up by 3.1 percent in the third quarter, reflecting an upward revision from the 2.8 percent jump previously reported. Economists had expected the pace of growth to be unrevised. The Commerce Department said upward revisions to exports and consumer spending offset a downward revision to private inventory investment and an upward revision to imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP. With the upward revision, the GDP growth in the third quarter now reflects a modest acceleration from the 3.0 percent surge in the second quarter. The slightly faster GDP growth in the third quarter primarily reflected accelerations in exports, consumer spending, and federal government spending. These movements were partly offset by a downturn in private inventory investment, a larger decrease in residential fixed investment and an acceleration by imports, the Commerce Department said. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said the pace of consumer price growth in the third quarter was unrevised at 1.5 percent, which reflects a notable slowdown from the 2.5 percent jump in the second quarter. The increase by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, was upwardly revised by 0.1 percentage point to 2.2 percent in the third quarter, but that still reflects a slowdown from the 2.8 percent surge in the second quarter. Powered by Commodity Insights |