He added, "A resurgence of Covid infections cut the summer rebound in half while growing supply chain issues led to higher inflation and curbed demand." Decreases in residential fixed investment, federal government spending, and exports limited the upside along with an increase in imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP. Despite the weaker GDP growth in the third quarter, Bernd Weidensteiner, Senior Economist at Commerzbank, predicted the Federal Reserve would not be dissuaded from deciding to tapering its bond purchases at its meeting next week.