GDP growth slowed in fourth quarter
The nation’s gross domestic product grew at a 2.6 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said yesterday.
Though still a strong rate of growth, it was a a sharp change from the 5 percent rate of the third quarter, and fell short of the 3 percent analysts had expected.
For 2014 as a whole, GDP expanded 2.4 percent, a moderate pace but an improvement on the average 2.2 percent growth of 2010-2013.
Friday’s GDP report is a preliminary, or “advance,” estimate of quarterly GDP from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
And upturn in imports and a downturn in federal government spending contributed to the deceleration in real GDP growth, the report said.
The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, decreased 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, in contrast to an increase of 1.4 percent in the third, the report said.
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