GDP grows at revised 3.4% pace in third quarter

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Third quarter gross domestic product growth was revised down to a 3.4% gain from the 3.5% gain in the previous estimate, data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed.

At the same time, the price picture was revised only modestly from the previous estimate. The core PCE price index was revised up to 1.6% from 1.5%, but the year/year rate is still at 2.0%, up from 1.9% in the previous quarter.

The slight downward revision to GDP was driven by downward revisions to residential investment and PCE, as well as a slightly wider net export gap, but was partially offset by an upward revision in private inventory investment.

PCE growth was revised down to a 3.5% pace from 3.6% in the previous estimate, while the net export gap now stands at $949.7 billion, wider than $945.8 billion gap in the previous estimate.

Nonresidential fixed investment was unrevised from the 2.5% gain in the previous estimate, but inventory investment was revised up to an $89.8 billion gain for the quarter from an $86.6 billion rise in the previous estimate.

As a result of the mix of revisions, real final sales of domestic product were revised down to a 1.0% gain from the 1.2% increase in the previous estimate. Real final sales to domestic purchasers was revised down to 2.9% from the previous 3.1% rise.

Real Gross Domestic Income was revised up to 4.3% from 4.0% in the previous estimate and was up from a 0.9% gain in the second quarter. The average of GDP and GDI now stands at a 3.8% gain for the third quarter, unrevised from the previous estimate and 2.5% in the second quarter.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.

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