US economic growth speeds up in second quarter and weekly jobless claims fall

Economy is being anchored by labor market and businesses are boosting investment, potentially holding off a recession

The US economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter as labor market resilience underpinned consumer spending, while businesses boosted investment in equipment, potentially keeping a much-feared recession at bay.

Gross domestic product (GDP) - a broad measure of economic growth - increased at a 2.4% annualized rate last quarter, the commerce department announced in its advance estimate of second-quarter GDP on Thursday. The economy grew at a 2.0% pace in the January-March quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 1.8% rate.