US third quarter GDP growth unrevised at 2.1%

The pace of economic activity in the States picked up slightly in the third quarter, helped by a smaller drag from inventory building alongside stronger exports and residential fixed investment.

Revised data from the Department of Commerce showed that America's gross domestic product expanded at an annualised pace of 2.1% over the three months ending in September to reach $19.121trn.

That estimate of the pace of growth was unchanged from a preliminary estimate but higher than the prior quarter pace of expansion of 2.0%, but the composition changed.

Third quarter growth in household consumption, at 3.1%, was marked up versus a prior estimate of 2.9% (consensus: 2.9%), on the back of higher portfolio management and investment advice in particular.

However, that extra lift for activity was offset by a small 0.03 percentage point drag from the inventory cycle, versus the 0.17 percentage point boost to GDP previously calculated.

As a result, final domestic sales, a measure of GDP which excludes foreign trade and inventory, was revised up from 2.0% to 2.2%.

Corporate profit growth meanwhile was revised downwards, from 0.2% quarter-on-quarter to -0.2%.

On the prices front, the core price deflator for personal consumption expenditures, increased at an annualised clip of 2.1%, unchanged from the prior estimate but was up from the 1.9% pace observed over the prior three-month stretch.