Third-Quarter GDP Hits Consensus 3.3% Estimate

The BEA reported the second estimate of third-quarter GDP was 3.3%. The report matched the Econoday consensus.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.3% in the third quarter of 2017 according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Real gross domestic income (GDI) increased 2.5% in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 2.3%(revised) in the second. The average of real GDP and real GDI, a supplemental measure of U.S. economic activity that equally weights GDP and GDI, increased 2.9% in the third quarter compared with an increase of 2.7% in the second quarter.

For the second quarter of 2017, the percent change in real GDI was revised from 2.9% to 2.3% percent based on newly available second-quarter tabulations from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program.

Hurricanes provided a GDP boost in the third quarter and may do so again in the fourth quarter. Payback comes in 2018. Hurricanes are not good for the economy. Ask Puerto Rico.