Growth in the U.S. economy accelerated over the summer, as businesses poured money into artificial intelligence and consumers kept spending, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said today. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in the country, increased at a 3.4 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace in a year. The strong spending and growth contrast with widespread economic discontent, a top issue heading into next week’s midterm elections.
Those frustrations are grounded in the reality of elevated inflation and lagging wages: Households, in the aggregate, saved just 4.1 percent of their after-tax income in the third quarter, the lowest rate in nearly four years. Nonetheless, today’s numbers suggest that consumers haven’t pulled back their spending. That has helped keep the economy on track, but it could also be contributing to inflation, by making it easier for businesses to pass along price increases.
In other economic news: Christine Lagarde will step down as head of the European Central Bank, ending a term that had spanned a series of economic crises. Justice Dept. issues subpoenas to California voting officials The Trump administration has opened a criminal investigation as part of its widening campaign to prove that thousands of noncitizens are on California’s voter rolls, despite studies finding that fraud is very rare.
Nvidia’s C.E.O. is seen as the target of a Chinese spy plot American spy agencies discovered that a businesswoman who had a close relationship with Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, was a Chinese intelligence asset who had been funneling information to Beijing. Patrick Stewart dies at 86 Patrick Stewart overcame a bleak childhood in England’s coal-mining country to find acclaim as a Shakespearean actor with a commanding baritone.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing