Stronger investment contributed to a faster third quarter for the US economy. Consumers and government also increased their spending, while exports declined. Imports rose and are subtracted when calculating gross domestic product: a machine built overseas may count towards a factory’s capital spending, but the machine itself is not US production.
A separate measure offers a closer look at private demand. Consumer spending and private fixed investment together grew at an annualised 4.9% in real terms, after 4.6% in the second quarter. This measure strips out changes in inventories, among other things, making it easier to distinguish purchases by final users from goods that have yet to leave a warehouse.
The convention matters when comparing these figures with Europe. The 3.4% headline is the pace that would result if the quarter’s growth continued for a full year. It is an advance estimate, not an increase of 3.4% in three months.