The U.S. Department of Commerce said on the 22nd (local time) that last year's third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was tallied at 4.4% (preliminary, annualized quarter over quarter).
The growth rate released that day is 0.1 percentage point (p) higher than the advance estimate (4.3%) announced in the previous month.
At 4.4%, it is the highest quarterly growth rate in two years since the third quarter of 2023 (4.7%). It is also higher than the expert consensus (4.3%) compiled by Dow Jones.
The U.S. Department of Labor said that initial jobless claims for last week (Jan. 11–17) came in at 200,000, up 1,000 from the previous week. However, it fell short of the expert forecast (208,000) compiled by Dow Jones.
A decrease in initial jobless claims suggests the possibility of fewer layoffs.
Continuing jobless claims, which are filed by those who have applied for benefits for more than two weeks, totaled 1,849,000 for the week of Jan. 4–10, down 26,000 from the previous week.
A decline in continuing claims means fewer people are failing to find a new job immediately after unemployment. With Wall Street closely watching labor market trends, the improvement in jobless claims data is expected to somewhat ease concerns about a cooling labor market.