WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Commerce Department Tuesday revised upward the third quarter gross domestic product to 3.9 percent from a 3.7 percent pace initially estimated.
Commerce routinely adjusts its economic growth numbers. Revisions are made as fresh data come in on the components used to calculate gross domestic product.
For the third quarter, upward adjustments were made to consumer and business spending and to exports. Inventory investment was lowered.
GDP measures all goods and services produced in the U.S. It grew 3.3 percent in the second quarter and 4.5 percent in the first. The economy advanced 3 percent in all of 2003.
After-tax corporate profits fell 2 percent to $884.9 billion in July though September. Profits slipped 0.7 percent in the second quarter. Third-quarter profits were up 8.1 percent compared with the year-earlier period.
Consumer spending jumped 5.1 percent from the 4.6 percent pace previously reported and higher than the second quarter's gain of 1.6 percent.
Purchases of durable goods climbed 17.2 percent and non-durables rose 4.8 percent. Originally, durables were expected to rise 16.8 percent and non-durables were expected to increase 3.9 percent.
