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In the third quarter, the U.S. gross domestic product grew by 3.5 percent, according to a NAFCU Macro Data Flash.

NAFCU Staff Economist Doug Christman analyzed data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and found that although growth slowed from its increase of 4.6 percent in the second quarter, growth was still healthy due to "strong contributions in net exports, personal consumption, government spending and business investment."

"The drag from government spending seems to be over as local governments and federal defense spending increased," Christman wrote. "Overall and core PCE [personal consumption expenditures] inflation both declined in the third quarter, giving the Federal Reserve some cover to keep rates low in the near future. The economy is expected to improve throughout the year as the labor market improves and pent-up demand is released."

The Fed's key inflation metric, core PCE inflation (excluding food and energy) decreased from 2 percent to 1.4 percent, while overall PCE inflation slowed from 2.3 percent to 1.2 percent.

Nonresidential investment increased by 5.5 percent, government spending by 4.6 percent, personal consumption expenditures by 1.8 percent, and residential investment by 1.8 percent. Meanwhile, private inventories decreased from $84.8 billion in the second quarter to $62.8 billion in the third quarter. Net exports improved from negative $460.4 billion to negative $409.9 billion from the second quarter to third quarter.