Via NPR: The U.S. economy grew robustly as Americans continued to spend.
The U.S. economy grew robustly in July, August and September, powered by steady consumer spending, especially on health care.
The gross domestic product — the broadest measure of the nation’s economic activity — for the third quarter grew at an annual rate of 4.3%, much faster than the 3.8% expansion seen between April and June, according to the Commerce Department on Tuesday.
Growth has picked up from the early months of 2025, when the U.S. economy actually shrunk at an annual rate of 0.6% as President Trump prepared sweeping global tariffs.
These numbers should have been out in October, but the government shutdown delayed their release. I will confess that it is a healthier number than I expected. I will also say that growth fueled by health care spending doesn’t seem ideal, but that is just an initial impression.
Here’s a longer-term comparison by quarter. Q3 of 2024 grew at a 3.3% rate, and Q3 of 2023 was at 4.7% for some other comparative notes.
I expect there will be some crowing from the usual suspects in the administration, as well as some skepticism from the opposition. I would suggest that overreaction and overgeneralization is probably a bad idea one way or the other.
Some other economic numbers:
Inflation has been cooling off notably, with consumer prices rising a modest 2.7% in November from a year earlier. Some food items have continued to drop in price, but not enough to offset the growing big costs, like rent, electricity and health insurance.
On average, workers’ wages have been growing faster than prices. But those wage gains have slowed in recent months as the softening job market has chipped away at workers’ bargaining power for higher pay. Wealthier shoppers have been propping up much of U.S. spending at stores and restaurants.
