Headline: US GDP Surges 4.4% in Q3 — Strong Consumer Spending and AI-Fueled Business Investment Drive the Rally The US economy accelerated to a 4.4% annualized growth rate in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years and a modest upward revision from the Commerce Department’s initial 4.3% estimate. That follows 3.8% growth in the April–June quarter. Consumer spending — which makes up roughly 70% of GDP — was a major engine, expanding at a healthy 3.5% rate. Spending on services such as healthcare rose 3.6%, while outlays on goods increased 3.0%. Within goods, durable purchases (items expected to last at least three years, like cars) grew just 1.6%. A jump in exports and a decline in imports also helped lift third-quarter growth. Business investment (excluding homebuilding) climbed 3.2%, a gain the Commerce Department attributes in part to corporate bets on artificial intelligence. That investment theme helps explain the strong performance in tech-heavy markets after the report. Markets reacted quickly: major indexes including the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 climbed following the release, and many big tech names — including Tesla and Nvidia — ticked higher. The employment picture, however, is more muted. Since March, employers have added only about 28,000 jobs per month, a slow pace that has stoked concerns about job displacement amid rapid AI adoption. “The United States is experiencing a jobless boom where strong growth is powered by AI investments and consumption by wealthier families, but there is almost no hiring,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “It’s an uneasy situation for many middle-class families. One of the big questions for 2026 is whether the middle class will start to feel the uplift from the boom.” Why crypto traders should pay attention: a faster-growing economy and stronger risk assets can feed risk-on flows into markets, including crypto, while AI-driven tech investment continues to shape investor appetite for growth-oriented assets. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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