Folk rusler forbi New York-børsen den 2. oktober 2020. Foto: John Minchillo / AP / NTB.

Den amerikanske økonomien vokste med redkordartede 7,4 prosent i tredje kvartal av 2020, og henter med det igjen mye av det tapte på grunn av koronapandemien, skriver Wall Street Journal.

Det er veksten i personlig forbruk som igjen løfter økonomien, som likevel tegner til å resultere i et noe lavere bruttonasjonalprodukt (BNP) i 2020 enn i 2019.

Gross domestic product—the value of all goods and services produced across the economy—jumped following a record decline from earlier in the pandemic, offsetting a good chunk of the record drop in output earlier in the year when the virus and related shutdowns disrupted business activity across the country.

Forecasters expect the economy to expand through the fourth quarter, though more slowly, amid a pandemic still disrupting lives and commerce as the virus infects tens of thousands of people a day. Analysts project the economy will end 2020 smaller than a year earlier, but grow in 2021.

Arbeidsmarkedet forventes å forbli problematisk ennå, men viser likevel tegn til forbedring. Av de 22 millioner tapte arbeidsplassene siden mars, er halvparten gjenvunnet.

Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell by 40,000 to 751,000 in the week through Oct. 24, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was the lowest level of claims since mid-March, just before the coronavirus pandemic shut down much business activity throughout the U.S. economy.

The U.S. as of September has recovered about half of the 22 million jobs lost in March and April, at the beginning of the pandemic.

Spørsmålet som reises, er i hvilken grad disse siste økonomiske tallene kan påvirke presidentvalget i USA om fem dager.