Oct. 29, 2004 – The economy grew at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in the third quarter, slower than the 4.2 percent predicted by Wall Street analysts.
The data is one of the last snapshots of the country?s economic well-being before the November 2 presidential election. While President Bush is expected to highlight the increase from 3.3 percent growth in the second quarter, some analysts say the economy is still not growing fast enough.
"It's a pretty good growth rate, but it may not be enough to create jobs,'" economist Robert Brusca of Fact and Opinion Economics in New York told Reuters.
One index, which measures personal consumption minus food and energy, showed the smallest gain in nearly 42 years.
"I think it shows, as the Fed [Federal Reserve] indicated, that the economy regained some traction in the third quarter, but the growth is not robust,'" economist Gary Thayer of A.G. Edwards and Sons Inc. in St. Louis told Reuters.
