The U.S. economy grew at a surprisingly fast 5 percent annual rate in the third quarter of 2014, up sharply from the 3.9 percent of the last revision. The figure blew past the consensus estimate of 4.3 percent put forth by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
It's the fastest the U.S. economy has grown in one quarter in more than a decade: The GDP grew at a 6.9 percent pace in the third quarter of 2003.
The growth was supported by both personal and government spending, as well as a drop in imports.
"Consumer spending is poised to charge into 2015 as more employment and lower gasoline prices boost household confidence and buying power," Bloomberg reports.
The new estimate of the value of the production of goods and services in the United States from July to September was released Friday morning by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The agency says that in the third quarter, "both personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and nonresidential fixed investment increased more than previously estimated."
The gains were also helped by "federal government spending, exports, state and local government spending, and residential fixed investment," the agency says.
"Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased," it added.
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