U.S. economy grew at annual rate of 2% in the third quarter, as delta variant pulled back progress

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, in the latest sign of how the recent delta variant of the coronavirus held back the economic recovery.

The gross domestic product figures for the July-through-September period, released Thursday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, came in far lower than the booming 6.7 percent growth in the previous quarter, reflecting an economy struggling anew amid the delta variant surge, which tore through unvaccinated communities in August and September and is only easing now.

The third quarter was the...