US expansion quickens even as consumer spending slows The world's largest economy grew at a 2.7pc annual rate in the third quarter, fresh figures from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday. That is up from an initial estimate of 2pc growth. However, the revisions also showed that consumer spending and wages grew less rapidly than first estimated, limiting the encouragement economists took from the report. Household spending rose at a 1.4pc pace, according to the report, down from the initially estimated 2pc. "Not as encouraging was the change in the composition, with the decline in consumer spending taking the gloss of any optimists," said David Semmens, an economist at Standard Chartered. Although the headline expansion is the strongest the US has enjoyed since the final quarter of 2011, few expect it to change the Federal Reserve's commitment to keep interest rates at record low levels. The revision comes as Wall Street focuses on whether President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress will avoid a series of spending cuts and tax rises that have been dubbed the 'fiscal cliff'. Due at the start of the year, the Congressional Budget Office has warned the measures will return the US to recession if they all happen.