Asia-Pacific

US economy expands 2 percent in third quarter

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-29 22:34

WASHINGTON - The US economy grew at an annual pace of 2 percent in the third quarter this year, according to an advance estimate released by the US Department of Commerce Friday.

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"The increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditure, private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, and exports that were partly offset by a negative contribution from residential fixed investment," the department said.

Real GDP, the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States, rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter.

US economic growth was revised upward to an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared to the initially estimated pace of 1.6 percent.