WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Commerce Department has reported that during the third quarter of 2021 the U.S. economy grew by 2.3 percent, slightly higher than last month’s estimate of a 2.1 percent growth.

But prospects for a future recovery has been put in doubt by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The higher than expected growth is due mainly to stronger consumer spending than what was previously expected, as well as businesses restoring their inventories faster than initial estimates predicted.

Economic growth soared to 6.3 percent in the first quarter and 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2021, but the emergence of the Delta variant in the summer is blamed for the third quarter slowdown.

The appearance of Omicron, in addition to high inflation and lingering supply chain issues, caused concerns that growth in 2022 could be stifled and cause the stock market to fluctuate.

However, new optimism that Omicron will be manageable sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 560 points this week, and another 261 points on December 23.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden convened a meeting of his supply chain disruptions task force in Washington, which discussed the bottlenecks at ports and other issues that created shortages of goods and contributed to higher prices for consumers.

“Packages are moving. Gifts are being delivered. Shelves are not empty,” Biden said.

However, Sung Won Sohn, economics and business professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said, “History is repeating itself, with the COVID-19 virus suddenly reappearing and dampening economic growth prospects,” as reported by ABC News.