---
title: "Consumer spending and exports both made strong contributions, with the U.S. Q3 economic growth at 3.1%, exceeding expectations"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/222820251.md"
description: "The U.S. economy grew by 3.1% in the third quarter of 2023, exceeding the expected 2.8%. Strong performances in consumer spending and exports were the main driving factors, with consumer spending increasing by 3.7% and exports rising by 9.6%. Despite market expectations of an economic slowdown, data shows that the U.S. economy is still growing strongly. The Federal Reserve hinted that the pace of interest rate cuts will slow down, with the core personal consumption expenditure price index slightly rising to 2.2%"
datetime: "2024-12-19T14:12:06.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/222820251.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/222820251.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/222820251.md)
---

> Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/222820251.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/222820251.md)


# Consumer spending and exports both made strong contributions, with the U.S. Q3 economic growth at 3.1%, exceeding expectations

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, the U.S. economy expanded faster than previously expected in the third quarter, partly due to strong consumer spending and exports. Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday showed that the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.1% year-on-year in the third quarter, compared to a previous forecast of 2.8%.

Driven by increased spending in the service sector, consumer spending rose by 3.7%, the fastest growth since the beginning of 2023.

From July to September, exports grew by 9.6%, exceeding the previous expectation of 7.5%. This was also entirely attributed to the service sector.

The data reinforces the view that, despite market expectations of an eventual economic slowdown, the U.S. economy is still growing strongly. Just a day before this report was released, the Federal Reserve hinted that the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025 would slow down, partly based on recent economic data that exceeded expectations, which triggered a sell-off in the stock market.

The report also indicated that the Fed's preferred inflation measure—the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index—slightly rose to 2.2% in the third quarter. The PCE data for November will be released on Friday.

Other components of GDP, such as business and residential investment as well as government spending, were also revised upward.

Another data point released on Thursday showed that the number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. last week was 220,000, compared to an expectation of 230,000 and a previous value of 242,000. The number of initial jobless claims has decreased after a surge earlier this month, continuing the trend of volatility often seen during the holiday period

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