Name: U.S. economy grows by 4.3% in third quarter, much more than expected
Uploaded: 2025-12-23T15:39:36.806Z
Duration: 3 min 49 s
Description: The U.S. economy grew at a much greater-than-expected pace in the third quarter, boosted by strong consumer spending, a delayed report released Tuesday showed.

The U.S. economy grew at a much greater-than-expected pace in the third quarter, boosted by strong consumer spending, a delayed report released Tuesday showed.

Washington

The U.S. economy expanded by 4.3% in the third quarter, significantly outpacing the anticipated 3.3% growth rate. This marks the strongest quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2023, with consumer spending rising 3.5%, also above expectations.

However, the price index increased to 3.8%, indicating higher inflation than forecast, and durable goods orders fell more than expected. Despite the robust GDP figure, equity markets showed little immediate reaction, and the dollar index approached a multi-month low.

U.S. economy grows by 4.3% in third quarter, much more than expected

Welcome back to Squawk Box, Rick Santelli here live at CME HQ with some delayed but very important data points. We'll be looking at October Preliminary Durable Goods, Philly Fed and GDP, second time around the block delayed. Third quarter numbers, we're looking for 3.3, zoom, zoom, zoom, 4.3%, 4.3%. That is a nice jump, and I know many may question data gathering, but on the surface, this would be the strongest quarter going back to the third quarter of 2023 when it was 4.7. This is strong. 3.5 on consumption blows away the 2.7 we were expecting. That would be the best since the last quarter of 24. On the price index, here's some not good news. 3.8% on the price index, that's much higher than 2.7 we were looking for, much higher than 2.1 in the rear view mirror. That would equal the first quarter of 23 to find a higher price structure. You'd have to go to the last quarter of 2022 when we were at 3.9%. Now, if you look at CORE, a different story. The price index was warm. CORE, well, as expected, but still warm. 2.9 is what we were looking for, quarter of a quarter personal consumption expenditure price index. Now, issue is 2.6 was our last look, so it's up three-tenths. 2.9, well, 2.9 would be the warmest since we were at 3.3 in just the first quarter of this year. Now, let's go to Philly Fed non-manufacturing, comes in at minus 16.8. That is actually very close to expectations. That would be the weakest read since October's, minus 22. Now, let's go to durable goods. These numbers are October preliminary, minus 2.2%. We're expecting minus 1.5%. That would be the weakest durable goods outlook since July of this year. And if we look at X Transportation, well, it definitely improves, close to expectations, up two-tenths of a percent. Up two-tenths, well, we're up six-tenths our last look, which now got upgraded to up seven-tenths. To give you an idea, up two-tenths is actually the weakest quarter, going back to unchanged quarter, and that was in April of 25, April of 25. Let's look at non-defense, X Air. This is a proxy for capital spending, coming in up half of 1%, better than expected. Very solid revision in the rearview mirror to up 1.1. Up 1.1 would come to May when it was up 1.9. Up 0.5, well, up 0.5 would be actually the weakest, going back to minus 1.5 in April, but still a solid number. And finally, let's go to shipments. On the shipment side, up seven-tenths. This is good news. Things are moving again. This is multiples of the up three-tenths we were looking for. And in the rearview mirror, a very healthy revision from up nine-tenths to up 1.2. After all of that, what's going on? Well, interest rates are to the upside a bit, and that may have something to do with the pricing index on the negative news side. But on the positive news side, better GDP is always good. We'll let the experts pick apart the day, the gathering, and all the issues over time that should smooth out. But as I said on the surface, powerful number. The pre-opening equities haven't really responded much. Dow Jones was down. The Dow futures was down about 20 before the data release. It's now down about 37. Real quickly, gang, should we close here in the dollar index, it would be a two-and-a-half-month low. Back to you.

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