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Home > News > International News > Weekly Industry Crib Sheet: U.S. Economic Growth Accelerates

Weekly Industry Crib Sheet: U.S. Economic Growth Accelerates

04/09/2013 23:05:29

The U.S. economy grew in the fourth quarter of 2012 at a faster pace than initially projected, although growth at the end of last year still remained weak. The nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in Q4, according to the most recent estimate from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

This marked an upward revision from the earlier estimate of 0.1 percent growth. Despite the improvement, GDP performance remained comparatively weak in the final quarter of 2012, down from 3.1 percent growth in Q3 and 1.3 percent in Q2.

The upward revision in GDP estimates was primarily driven by business investment in non-residential buildings, which surged to a 16.7 percent annual rate, as well as an upswing in exports, which helped narrow the trade gap to $384.7 billion from $395.2 billion and contributed 0.33 percentage points to fourth-quarter growth. Automotive output also boosted GDP, adding 0.18 percentage points to the overall total.

“On the flip side, businesses fearing the fiscal cliff cut back in the fourth quarter, trimming inventories of goods on hand. And the government slashed spending on defense,” CNN Money reports. “Together those two factors eliminated nearly 3 percentage points of growth from GDP, and those readings didn’t change in the latest report. But the worst economic hit of the fiscal cliff was avoided. And growth appears to be fairly solid so far this year…”

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