US Gross domestic product increased at a 4.9% annualized rate last quarter, revised down from the previously reported 5.2% pace, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said in its third estimate of third-quarter GDP.
It was still the fastest pace of expansion since the fourth quarter of 2021. Economists had expected GDP growth would be unrevised at a rate of 5.2%.
The economy, which grew at a 2.1% pace in the second quarter, has been expanding at a pace far above what Fed officials regard as the non-inflationary growth rate of around 1.8%. Momentum, however, appears to have faded in the final three months of the year as consumer spending takes a breather.
Growth is also expected to be restrained by a wider trade deficit and slower pace of inventory building relative to the third quarter.
But the growth pace likely remains enough to fend off a recession, with retail sales unexpectedly rising in November and single-family housing starts and building permits scaling 1-1/2-year highs. Growth estimates for the fourth quarter range from as low as a 1.1% rate to as high as a 2.7% pace.
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