The advance news on third quarter GDP growth is in.
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the third quarter of 2004, according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.3 percent.
All that, and stable prices too.
The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, increased 1.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 3.5 percent in the second. Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 1.5 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 2.5 percent in the second.
You might guess from some in the press, however, that this was pretty bad news. A sampling:
U.S. Economy: 3rd-Qtr GDP Grew 3.7%, Confidence Ebbed (Bloomberg)
Stocks Are Mixed on Lackluster GDP Report (Associated Press, by way of Forbes)
GDP growth weaker than expected (CNNmoney)
There's just no pleasing some people.