Home Depot customers revolt after billionaire founder lavishes praise on Trump

The US economic expansion slowed dramatically in the third quarter to an annual rate of just two percent as consumer spending was choked by resurgent Covid-19 infections, the government said Thursday.

The spread of the Delta variant of the virus over the summer combined with renewed restrictions and global supply snags including shortages of workers and computer chips took a toll on the economy, cutting growth from the 6.7 percent pace in the prior quarter.

Fewer Americans made unemployment benefit filings last week than at any other point since the pandemic, government data said Thursday, underscoring the labor market is bouncing back from the downturn.

The Labor Department reported 281,000 new seasonally adjusted jobless benefit claims filed in the week ended October 23, 10,000 less than the prior week's upwardly revised total and fewer than analysts had forecast.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to address America on Thursday as Congress prepares to advance his "Build Back Better" agenda.

"After hearing input from all sides and negotiating in good faith with Senators Manchin and Sinema, Congressional Leadership, and a broad swath of Members of Congress, President Biden is announcing a framework for the Build Back Better Act. President Biden is confident this is a framework that can pass both houses of Congress, and he looks forward to signing it into law. He calls on Congress to take up this historic bill – in addition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – as quickly as possible," the White House said in a statement.