The US economy grew at 1.3 per cent in the second quarter, according to figures from the Commerce Department, a faster-than-expected clip.

The rate was revised up from a previous estimate of one per cent as investment, spending and exports all helped boost the growth rate.

The increase represented a boost of $11.3 billion to gross domestic product over the previous estimate. The final figure was slightly more than non-government economists had predicted.

Meanwhile, the US jobless claims fell sharply last week to 391,000, their lowest level since April, according to the Labour Department.

The previous week’s new claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of the pace of business and government layoffs, was 428,000.

Although the figure is seasonally adjusted, a Labour Department statistics official pointed to the frequent volatility of the data as the likely reason for the big drop, rather than a change in the overall employment situation. “I think this is more of a technical issue in terms of decline,” the official said. “It’s a seasonal factor that leads to a big drop of the seasonally adjusted value.”