Finance & economics | Still energised

Has America really escaped inflation?

The country’s extraordinary economic vigour keeps the threat alive

A woman carries shopping bags during the holiday season in New York
Not yet droppedPhotograph: Reuters
|Washington, DC

At some point American economic growth will disappoint expectations. For now, though, it appears to have ended 2023 much as it passed the previous few years, with yet another expansion that defied forecasts. Recent data suggest that the economy grew at an annualised pace of 2.5% or so in the final three months of the year, more than twice the median expectation of analysts at the start of the quarter.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Still energised”

From the January 6th 2024 edition

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