The government’s other main gauge of economic activity – gross domestic income – rose a more moderate 1.5%.

There’s still obvious uncertainty around when the Federal Reserve will end the bank’s tightening cycle, which would be an important positive for noninterest-bearing gold.

One after another, economists have postponed or reversed their earlier forecasts for a recession.

The latest snapshot of the economy coincides with rising sentiment that it may achieve an elusive ‘soft landing,’ in which growth slows and inflation falls without igniting a full-blown recession.