US government estimates economy grew last quarter at a 2.1% rate, unchanged from previous projection

abcnews.go.com:

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.

The second-quarter expansion of the nation's gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — marked a modest deceleration from the economy's 2.2% annual growth from January through March.

Consumer spending, business investment and state and local government outlays drove the second-quarter economic expansion.

The economy and job market have shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates to combat inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since March 2022, sparking concerns that ever-higher borrowing rates will trigger a recession.

So far, though, inflation has eased without causing much economic pain, raising hopes that the central bank can pull off a so-called soft landing — slowing the economy enough to conquer high inflation without causing a painful recession.

Still, those higher rates have taken a toll. Consumer spending, for example, rose at an annual rate of just 0.8% from April through June, down sharply from the government's previous estimate of 1.7% and the weakest such figure since the first quarter of 2022.

But business investment excluding housing, a closely watched barometer, rose at a 7.4% annual pace, the fastest rate in more than a year. And state and local