The US economy advanced an annualized 3.5% on quarter in the third quarter of 2018, beating market expectations of 3.3%, the advance estimate showed. It follows a 4.2% growth in the previous period which was the highest since the third quarter of 2014. The increase in real GDP reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, state and local government spending, federal government spending, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from exports and residential fixed investment.
