The US economy is growing at the fastest pace in 2 years

• Real GDP rose 4.9% at an annualized rate in the third quarter.
• That greatly surpasses the roughly 2% seen in both the first and second quarter of this year.
• There are still concerns about a recession, but the next downturn might not be too long or severe.

The US economy saw much higher GDP growth in the third quarter than the first two quarters of the year.

Real gross domestic product, or real GDP, rose at an annualized rate of 4.9%, according to the advance estimate for the third quarter from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This increase is above the forecast of 4.3%.