Led by a rise in business investment, the U.S. economy grew at an annual pace of 3.3% from July through September, its fastest rate in three years.
The Commerce Department now estimates that third-quarter growth exceeded the 3% annual expansion it initially reported last month.
The performance, achieved despite damage from two devastating hurricanes, marked the fastest expansion in gross domestic product—the broadest gauge of economic output—since a 5.2% annual spurt in the third quarter of 2014.
Before the revised third-quarter numbers came out, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta was forecasting that growth would rise to a 3.4% annual pace in the final three months of 2017, which could bring growth for the year close to 2.8%. In 2016, the economy grew just 1.5%.
