Both continued consumer spending and increased investments in data center projects helped to significantly bolster the Gross Domestic Product in the last quarter according to a new federal survey.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is reporting a 3.4% increase from July to September in economic growth, a markedly higher figure than what was reported this spring when the figure stood at 2.2%.
The latest numbers, notes the New York Times, provide the latest evidence that while “Americans may be unhappy about inflation, they haven’t pulled back their spending.”
The third quarter figures are, in fact, the highest they have been since the fall of 2025 when they came in at just under 4%.
The Gross Domestic Product has been used by the government since the days of the New Deal to measure the nation’s economic growth. A narrative accompanying the BEA survey pointed to such growth factors as “increases in investment, consumer spending, and government spending partly offset by a decrease in exports.”
In the category of real final sales to private domestic purchasers, the trend line showed an increase of 4.9%, compared with 4.6% this past spring. At the same time, the price index for gross domestic purchases was up by 3%, while that figure stood at 5.6% in the second quarter.
The latest GDP figures, according to analysts, appear to bolster the hunch that the Federal Reserve will likely raise rates in December in a move to bring prices under control.
“The economy is powering ahead, consumers are spending more, and at the same time inflation is well above the Fed’s target,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
All of which suggests, adds the paper, that “current interest rates may not be high enough to cool prices.”
October 30, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Graphic courtesy Pixabay
