U.S. third quarter GDP revised up to 2.3% from 2.1% previous

U.S. third quarter GDP revised up to 2.3% from 2.1% previous.

The U.S. economy continued to grow in November, but at a slower pace compared with the previous month, according to an index compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago released Wednesday.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index fell to 0.37 in November from 0.75 in October, broadly matching the 0.40 consensus forecast from economists polled by FactSet and signaling that the economy expanded at an above-average rate.

The CFNAI index is composed of 85 economic indicators drawn from four broad categories of data: production and income; employment, unemployment and hours; personal consumption and housing; and sales, orders and inventories. A positive reading signals growth above historical trend, while a negative reading corresponds to growth below trend.

Three of the four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made positive contributions to it in November, but all four categories worsened compared with October, the Chicago Fed said.

Production-related indicators contributed 0.21 points to the index, down from 0.42 the previous month, as industrial production growth eased to 0.5%.

The contribution of the employment-related indicators to the CFNAI decreased to 0.18 points from 0.23 points a month earlier, mainly due to a slowdown in job creation.

The contribution of the sales, orders and inventories category edged down to 0.03 points in November from 0.06 points in October, the Chicago Fed said.

The personal consumption and housing category contributed negatively to the index, by minus 0.05 points, compared with 0.04 points the prior month, as consumption indicators weakened over the month.

U.S. economic growth is expected to accelerate in the last three months of the year after slowing over the third quarter. However, rising Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the Omicron variant could dampen the recovery in early 2022, economists say.