America’s economy grew at an annual rate of 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the second GDP estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The estimate in Thursday’s report is based on more complete source data than what was available in the prior estimate. The results match the pace of the prior quarter.
Homebuilding made a positive contribution to GDP in the fourth quarter, as well as personal consumption expenditures.
The GDP increase also reflected positive contributions from exports, federal government spending, and state and local government spending, which were partly offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment and nonresidential fixed investment.
Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased by 1.29%.
Current-dollar GDP increased by 3.5%, or $184.2 billion, in Q4 to a level of $21.73 trillion. This is down from the third quarter’s 3.8%, or $202.3 billion.
The gross domestic price purchase index increased by 1.4% in Q4, holding steady from Q3’s increase of 1.4%. Personal consumption expenditures increased by 1.3%, down from 1.5% in the previous quarter.
Here are updates to the previous estimate:
Real GDP: Remained unchanged at 2.1%
Current-dollar GDP: Decreased to 3.5%, down from the last estimate’s 3.6%
Gross domestic purchases price index: Decreased to 1.4%, down from the last estimate’s 1.5%
Personal consumption expenditures: Decreased to 1.3%, down from the last estimate’s 1.6%
The chart below shows that GDP sits at the same level as Q3, but is more than one percentage point above Q4 of 2019:
