U.S. economy grew 2.8% last quarter as growth hit the gas
CBSN
The nation's economy remains robust as the latest GDP data shows growth at a 2.8% annual rate, far exceeding economists' expectations of a weaker 1.9% annual pace of growth. Consumers and businesses helped drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates.
Thursday's report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy's total output of goods and services — picked up in the April-June quarter after growing at a 1.4% pace in the January-March period. Growth last quarter also picked up because businesses increased their inventories.
Despite last quarter's uptick, the U.S. economy, the world's largest, has cooled in the face of the highest borrowing rates in decades, engineered by the Federal Reserve to fight high inflation. From mid-2022 through 2023, annualized GDP growth had topped 2% for six straight quarters. In last year's final two quarters, GDP expanded by rates of 4.9% and 3.4%.
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