Revised government data released on Wednesday showed that the U.S. economy grew slightly higher than initially expected in the three months ending in September.
The U.S. Department of Commerce stated that authentic gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the country’s total output of goods and services, grew at an annual rate of 2.3% in the third quarter.
Although this is a slight improvement from the previous estimate of 2.1%, it is still the slowest growth rate since the second quarter of 2020, when the U.S. economy suffered a historical contraction due to the cessation of activities due to the blockade.
With the removal of COVID-19 restrictions, the annual economic growth rate in the first quarter of this year was 6.3%. In the second quarter, it was 6.7%. But the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the summer changed the recovery in the third quarter.
Wednesday’s strong interpretation of GDP in the third quarter was due to consumer spending and rising corporate inventories. Some analysts believe that economic growth rebounded strongly in the last three months of this year.
Experts predict that the economic recovery will end with strong momentum in 2021. It should have solid household finances, increased employment, and improved health. Therefore it will support GDP growth of more than 7% in the fourth quarter.
But other economists believe that the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant will curb economic prospects in early 2022.
Recently, concerns about Omicron have put Wall Street on a roller coaster. The moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said over the weekend that he would not support President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill. Hence, the outlook for the U.S. economy was also hit. The bill was called “rebuild better.”
