4th Quarter US GDP Report

The US gross domestic product slowed to a crawl in the last quarter of 2007. The number, reported by the Commerce Department, came in at a 0.6% annualized growth rate for the quarter. Economists had a expected a number in the region of 1.1%.

For all of 2007, the economy grew by 2.2%, the lowest rate in 5 years.

The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), nonresidential structures, state and local government spending, exports, and equipment and software that were largely offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment and residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased slightly.

The deceleration in real GDP growth in the fourth quarter primarily reflected a downturn in inventory investment and decelerations in exports, in PCE, and in federal government spending that were partly offset by a deceleration in imports and an acceleration in state and local government spending.

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