Investing.com -- Economic growth in the U.S. accelerated in the second quarter as activity remained largely resilient in the face of an aggressive bout of Federal Reserve policy tightening.
The world's biggest economy expanded by 2.4% on an annual basis in the April to June period, according to preliminary data from the Commerce Department on Thursday. Economists had called for growth of 1.8%.
The reading accelerated from 2.0% in the first three months of the year, which was down from 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It also comes a day after the Fed hiked rates by 25 basis points to their highest level in more than two decades. The decision was the latest step in the Fed's unprecedented policy-tightening campaign aimed at corralling elevated inflation. Interest rates stood at near zero as recently as March 2022.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell left the door open for another rate increase in September but markets are only pricing in a 20% chance of a similarly sized increase at that meeting.
Inflation has subsequently begun to descend from a peak of over 9% reached in June 2022, while the labor market has remained robust and consumer spending strong. The trends have helped to fuel speculation for a so-called "soft landing," in which the U.S. manages to quell inflation without causing a major meltdown in the wider economy.