Real GDP for the fourth quarter grew at an annual rate of 1.0 percent, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s second estimate. GDP was revised up from the advance estimate of 0.7 percent growth. During the third quarter, GDP grew at a rate of 2.0 percent. The fourth quarter’s deceleration in growth reflected slowdowns in personal consumption expenditures and nonresidential fixed investment, as well as lower contributions from exports and government spending.
Consumption was the largest contributor to GDP, accounting for 1.38 percent of growth, down from 2.04 percent during the third quarter. Consumption spending increased by $56.9 billion in the fourth, compared with an $83.5 billion increase in the third quarter.
Net exports were the largest drag on GDP growth, subtracting 0.25 percent from growth. A $3.7 billion decline in imports of goods was not enough to offset the $14.4 billion decline in exports of goods. Private inventories and private domestic investment also dragged on GDP, subtracting 0.14 percent and 0.12 percent from growth.
Federal government spending increased during the quarter, contributing 0.15 percent to GDP. This was offset by a decline in state and local government spending however, which contracted during the quarter.
Read the Census release.
