3rd-Quarter Data Likely to Show Growth

U.S. economic reports due out this week will be highlighted by numbers that are likely to show that labor costs and overall economic growth rose in the third quarter, analysts said.

“Thursday is the big day,” said Christopher Low, chief economist at First Tennessee Capital Markets in New York. The reports will show “the economy is still running a little hotter than the Federal Reserve would like, and inflation pressures are beginning to appear.”

Labor Department figures to be released Thursday will probably show that the employment cost index--the broadest measure of wage, salary, and benefit costs--grew 0.9% for the third quarter after expanding 1.1% during the second quarter, analysts said.

At the same time, the Commerce Department will probably report that the gross domestic product picked up momentum, growing at a 4.6% pace in the third quarter. That’s a bounce back from the 1.6% pace in the second quarter, the slowest quarter in four years.