Shrugging off higher interest rates, America’s consumers spent enough to help drive the economy to a brisk 5.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported in an upgrade from its previous estimate. The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a 4.9% annual rate last quarter. Wednesday’s second estimate of growth for the July-September quarter confirmed that the economy sharply accelerated from its 2.1% rate from April through June. It showed that the U.S. gross domestic product grew at its fastest quarterly rate in nearly two years. Consumer spending, the lifeblood of the economy, rose at a 3.6% annual rate — still healthy but a downgrade from the previous estimate of 4%.
