: 5% GDP? Forecast for U.S. economy gets big retail boost

The Atlanta Federal Reserve estimates the U.S. economy is on track to grow at a frothy 5% annual pace in the third quarter, following a strong report on retail sales. That’s up from a previous 4.1%. The Atlanta Fed estimate is sometimes too high, though, and the third quarter is only halfway over. Another closely followed estimate by S&P Global put GDP on a 2.3% rate of growth before the retail sales figures for July were published. Whatever the case, the U.S. economy shows little sign of faltering despite a sharp increase in interest rates fomented by the Federal Reserve to curb high inflation.

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