US economic growth slowed in the third quarter, but beat some economists’ expectations of a bigger contraction.

The Commerce Department data put GDP growth at 1.9% during the three months, ahead of the 1.6% predicted.

Consumer spending held up better than expected, offsetting a fall in business investment and lower public spending.

But the growth was still the slowest for 2019, and comes hours before the Federal Reserve is due to make its latest interest rate announcement.

GDP growth in the previous quarter – the three months to end-June – was just below 2%. In 2018, the US economy grew by 3.4% in the third quarter.