The U.S. economy is on track to grow at a 2.9 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDP Now forecast model showed on Tuesday following the latest data on consumer prices and housing starts.
The latest third-quarter GDP estimate was lower than the 3.0 percent figure calculated on Sept. 15, the Atlanta Fed said on its website.
The forecast of third-quarter real residential investment growth remained at -6.3 percent following the August housing starts data released earlier on Tuesday.
U.S. housing starts slowed 5.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.14 million units in August, the Commerce Department said.
In the meantime, the projected third-quarter real consumer spending growth edged down to 3.0 percent from 3.1 percent after last Friday’s release of the August Consumer Price Index.
The Labor Department said the CPI rose 0.2 percent last month after being unchanged in July.
