The U.S. economy grew by more than expected in Q3, data released today has revealed.
According to figures from the Commerce Department, Gross domestic product (GDP)rose at an annual rate of 4.9% from July to September. This would more than double the 2.1% growth rate in the second quarter of the year, and better than expectations for a 4.7% rise in Q3.
One of the main reasons for the growth rate was consumer spending, which increased by 4% in the quarter.
The S&P 500 extended recent declines despite the news.
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Meta Stock Drops Despite Strong Earnings
Shares in Meta, formerly Facebook, were down by as much as 4% on Thursday, despite the company reporting strong quarterly earnings.
The tech giant announced that revenue for the third quarter of the year came in at $34.15 billion. This was better than expectations of $33.56 billion, and came on earnings of $4.39 vs. $3.63 expected.
Daily active users also rose, coming in at 2.09 billion vs. 2.07 billion, whilst monthly usage came as anticipated at 2.05 billion.
The company’s CFO Susan Li commented that, “We have observed softer ads in the beginning of the fourth quarter, correlating with the start of the conflict, which is captured in our Q4 revenue outlook.”
ECB Keeps Rates Unchanged After 10 Consecutive Hikes
After voting to hike rates during its last ten meetings, the ECB today opted to keep policy unchanged.
The European Central Bank decided to leave rates at 4%, which is its highest level on record.
Following the meeting, the bank said in a statement that, “Inflation is still expected to stay too high for too long, and domestic price pressures remain strong”
It went on to add that, “At the same time, inflation dropped markedly in September, including due to strong base effects, and most measures of underlying inflation have continued to ease.”
EURUSD fell to a 10-day low at 1.0572 on the news.
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