Economic Growth Accelerated to 2.1% Rate in Summer

The American economy grew at a faster pace this summer than estimated earlier.

Gross domestic product grew at a 2.1 percent annual rate for the third quarter, the Commerce Department said yesterday in its second estimate of economic growth. That is a substantial boost from the 1.9 percent in the earlier estimate.

While businesses pulled back on investment in the summer, likely because of fears of sluggish global growth and uncertainty over the direction of trade and monetary policies, consumers remained confident and spending high, thanks to rising wages and extremely low unemployment.

The year started out with a surge of growth after the Federal Reserve abandoned plans to raise rates several more times this year. The pace of growth slowed to 2 percent in the spring. The initial estimate for the July through September third-quarter period indicated the economy continued to cool but Wednesday’s data showed a slight acceleration during the period.