Friday, December 26, 2014

A Look Back at Third-Quarter GDP

The biggest financial news of this ordinarily quiet week was the Commerce Department's final estimate of our third quarter GDP figure at 5.0 percent (up from the second estimate of 3.9 percent), making it our nation's strongest quarter for economic growth since 2003. The upward revision reflected changes in the estimates of personal consumption expenditures, commercial real estate, and business inventory.

The biggest drivers of that growth were:

  • Commercial real estate increased by 8.9 percent
  • Consumer durable goods increased by 9.2 percent
  • Investment in business equipment increased by 11.0 percent
  • Federal government expenditures increased by 9.9 percent, including a 16.0 percent increase in defense spending

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