Third-Quarter Growth Was 8.2%

The government's opinion of how fast the U.S. economy grew in the third quarter continues to improve.

According to the Commerce Department, annualized gross domestic product was $9.82 trillion in the July-to-September period, up 8.2% in inflation-adjusted dollars from the second quarter. The revision from an initial estimate of 7.2% growth mainly reflects a higher estimate of business inventories during the quarter.

The new estimate widens the spread by which third-quarter 2003 growth beat every quarter since the early 1980s and could imply a better print for the current quarter, in which economists believe GDP will rise by about 4%. It also occurred without an increase in a key inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, which fell to a 2.3% increase from an initially reported 2.4% gain. ...