A raft of economic releases on Wednesday showed a widening growth gap between the United States and Europe. The U.S. economy expanded at a 3.0% annualised pace in the second quarter, handily beating the 2.6% consensus and reversing a 0.5% contraction in the previous three months, according to the Commerce Department’s advance estimate. The rebound was driven largely by a 30% plunge in imports, which added more than five percentage points to headline growth, and by a 1.4% rise in consumer spending. Price pressures eased: the GDP price index slowed to 2.0% and the core PCE price gauge to 2.5%, both down more than a full percentage point from the first quarter. Across the Atlantic, euro-area output edged up just 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and 1.4% from a year earlier, after 0.6% growth in the prior quarter. National data were mixed: France outperformed with 0.3% growth, but Germany and Italy each slipped 0.1%, and the Netherlands managed only a 0.1% gain. France’s resilience was underpinned by a 0.6% jump in June consumer spending, while German retail sales rose 1.0% yet failed to prevent an overall GDP dip. Inflation pressures in parts of the bloc are re-emerging. Spain’s flash consumer-price index accelerated to 2.7% in July, the highest since February, with core inflation at 2.3%. The diverging growth and price patterns complicate the policy outlook for both the Federal Reserve, which concludes a meeting later today, and the European Central Bank ahead of its September decision.