Fourth-Quarter GDP Grows at 3.2% Rate

U.S. gross domestic product rose at a 3.2% annual rate in the fourth quarter, following a 2.6% expansion in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday.

GDP for the full year expanded at a 2.9% rate, the most in five years, after contracting 2.6% in 2009, Commerce said.

The quarterly rate was below economists’ median forecast of a 3.5% rate, while the full year topped estimates of a 2.7% expansion, Bloomberg reported.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the economy, rose at a 4.4% rate, the most since the first quarter of 2006. That followed a 2.4% increase in the third quarter.

Friday’s GDP figure is the first of three to be put out by Commerce.