US government figures show that the country's economy expanded at its fastest rate in four years during the third quarter, though it has slowed sharply since and is expected to keep doing so in 2008.
The Commerce Department said gross domestic product expanded at a 4.9% annual rate in the third quarter, in a final reading which was unchanged from the estimate it made a month ago.
Faster exports and increased inventory-building accounted for the pickup in third-quarter growth from the second quarter's 3.8% pace.
But many economists say the ongoing drag from a weak housing sector and credit market turmoil will slow fourth-quarter expansion to 1% or less.
Spending on new home building contracted at a 20.5% rate during the third quarter, the steepest fall in more than 16 years.
The report showed a price measure closely watched by the Fed - personal consumption spending excluding food and energy - rising at a revised 2% annual rate in the third quarter instead of the 1.8% it estimated a month ago.
