Economy grew 3.9 percent in second quarter

The U.S. economy grew at a 3.9 percent clip in this year’s second quarter, a stronger performance than government figures had originally found.

The Commerce Department’s final estimate for the American gross domestic product (GDP) between April and June is a slight increase over last month’s 3.7 percent figure.

{mosads}Government estimates had originally found that the economy grew at much smaller 2.3 percent rate in the second quarter. Economists had generally expected little to no change from Friday’s third GDP estimate.

Higher consumer spending helped drive the stronger economy, the Commerce Department said Friday, as did more robust business investment in equipment and construction.

The 3.9 percent increase in gross domestic product is more than six times higher than the economic growth of 0.6 percent from the first three months of 2015.

In the second quarter, the U.S. saw its trade balance improve, and state and local government also increased, all of which helped drive economic growth.

This marks the second consecutive year that the American economy grew much more quickly during the spring months than in the winter.

Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, has said the central bank is watching every piece of data closely as it tries to decide whether the economy is strong enough to weather the first increase in interest rates in close to a decade.