First-Quarter Growth Rate Just Under 6%

Economy

The economy in the first three months of this year just keeps looking better and better.

It expanded at a 5.9 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate, the Commerce Department said Friday, the best since the fourth quarter of 1987.

Friday’s calculation represented an improvement over last month’s 5.8 percent estimate for the first quarter’s gross domestic product and April’s 5.6 percent figure.

Analysts said the economy probably won’t grow this strongly again for quite some time.

In other reports this week:

The Labor Department reported that the number of first-time claims for jobless benefits fell by 14,000 last week, but the four-week moving average hit a 21-week high.

The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods fell 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted $176.1 billion last month. It was the second decline in three months.

The National Association of Realtors said sales of previously owned homes jumped 4.4 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.24 million, the highest level since the record 4.28 million sales rate of May 1996.