Fourth-Quarter GDP Revised Up to 0.4%
The U.S. economy grew at a 0.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, a higher rate than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The gross domestic product rate, revised up from a previously estimated 0.1% gain, was just below analysts’ median forecast of a 0.5% increase, Bloomberg News reported.
Commerce’s first of its three fourth-quarter GDP estimates had been a 0.1% contraction. GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced.
Thursday’s figure was the third and final figure to be released for the quarter. The upturn was below the third-quarter growth rate of 3.1% and was due in part to reduced military spending, Bloomberg reported.
For all of 2012, the economy expanded at a 2.2% rate, unchanged from the previous estimate and following a 1.8% increase in 2011, Commerce said.
Consumer spending, which makes up about 70% of the economy, rose 1.8%, down from a previously estimated 2.1%.
Business spending on equipment and software jumped 11.8% following a 2.6% decline in the third quarter. That turnaround added almost a percentage point to growth, Bloomberg said.
