Profit growth for U.S. companies probably accelerated for athird straight quarter as strengthening consumer demand drove salesfor General Motors Co. to Apple Inc. and underpinned amanufacturing recovery.

Fourth-quarter earnings per share for companies in the Standard& Poor's 500 Index rose 4.9 percent from a year earlier,according to analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg, outpacinggains of 4.8 percent in the third quarter and 3.8 percent in thesecond. Estimates have trailed actual growth by at least 1.8percentage points in the past three quarters.

The profit growth was aided by a jump in consumer confidence tothe highest year-end reading in six years and by industrialproduction that surpassed its 2007 peak for the first time inNovember. While results are still uneven, with online retailerssuch as Amazon.com Inc. outperforming brick-and-mortar chainsincluding Pier 1 Imports Inc., consumers are being bolstered by afive-year low in the unemployment rate and last year's 30 percentsurge in the S&P 500.