Exports help US economy in third quarter

By Daniel Pimlott in New York

Published: November 29 2007 16:16 | Last updated: November 29 2007 16:16

Soaring exports encouraged by a weak dollar helped boost the US economy over the summer to its second fastest quarterly growth rate since the dotcom boom, more than offsetting the impact of the deepening slump in housing, according to government figures out on Thursday.

Gross domestic product grew at 4.9 per cent in the three months until the end of September, higher than a previous estimate of 3.8 per cent, and the highest rate of growth since the US economy grew 7.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2003. Growth in the third quarter of this year was also higher than during any quarter before that up to the second quarter of 2000, at the height of the internet bubble.

Much of the upward revision to growth estimates came from a 19 per cent jump in exports, contributing 1.4 percentage points to growth as the dollar fell to new lows in the quarter. Falling residential fixed investment amid the housing recession acted as a 1 per cent drag on growth.

(http://ft.com)