On Thursday, the Federal Open Market Committee said that US economic growth in the next couple years with improve more than originally estimated. Participants in the committee said GDP growth is likely to be 3 percent in 2013, up from earlier estimates of 2.5 percent. Meanwhile estimates for 2014 were bumped to 3.8 percent from 3 percent earlier.
The committee also said that the unemployment rate will be approximately 6.7 percent to 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter, down from earlier estimates of 7 to 7.7 percent.