Growth of real (inflation-adjusted) U.S. gross domestic product for the third quarter outpaced the consensus of analysts. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis announced Thursday that, on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, real GDP grew 3.5 percent in the July-September period, a deceleration from the second quarter's 4.6 percent, but well ahead of the 3 percent that economists surveyed by Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal had forecast. The growth made for the best two consecutive quarters since 2003 and the fourth out of the past five in which it has been 3 percent or better.