Breitbart Business Digest: Third-Quarter Growth Hit 3.4%, and Even Without AI Spending the Economy Grew About 2.5%
The newsletter says consumer spending supplied most of the growth, while Alphabet's plunge and Amazon's capital-spending plan show investors getting pickier about AI.
Breitbart's business newsletter walks through the third-quarter growth report and the market's mood on AI. We could read only portions of the page, so this summary covers the sections we saw.
The growth number. The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 3.4% annualized rate in the third quarter, up from the second quarter and the best expansion in a year, per the newsletter. Real final sales to private domestic purchasers, which it calls the best measure of underlying domestic growth, rose 4.9%, the strongest since the 2021 pandemic rebound.
The AI argument. Breitbart pushes back on the view that growth is only an AI story. It says consumer spending added 2.52 of the 3.4 points, and that stripping out computer gear and data-center spending still leaves growth around 2.5%.
The market jitters. On Thursday Alphabet shares fell nearly 13%, the worst day since its 2004 IPO, erasing about $482 billion in value. Amazon missed revenue and profit expectations, posted negative free cash flow for a second straight 12-month period and kept its plan for $220 billion in capital spending this year. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said Wednesday, just before the selloff, that "market participants are becoming somewhat more discerning in their capital allocations."
The history lesson. A closing feature recalls Oct. 30, 1929, when the Dow jumped 12.3% after John D. Rockefeller Sr. said he and his son were buying stocks, and the next day gained another 5.8%.
Note for readers: this is a conservative newsletter with a point of view, and the figures are as Breitbart reports them. Our earlier story on the Alphabet drop is on the site.