The U.S. economy surprisingly expanded by an annualized rate of 4.9% in Q3 2023, according to new federal data. This robust growth comes despite 18 months of rising interest rates from the Federal Reserve.
The growth rate is the strongest since 2021 and has been primarily driven by consumer spending, reported The Financial Times. This growth has occurred in the face of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive campaign to tighten monetary policy in decades, with interest rates being raised 11 times since March last year to a 22-year high of 5.25% to 5.5%.
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“It has been an exercise in humility,” said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, commenting on the unexpected nature of the growth. The high consumer spending has largely been attributed to a healthy labor …
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