US real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the second estimate released today by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. The growth was lower than the 2.9% increase reported in January’s advance estimate.
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected increases in private inventory investment, consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by decreases in residential fixed investment and exports.
MarketWatch noted the slowdown in spending suggests the new year is off to a weak start. The US will be hard-pressed to match even the modest performance of the fourth quarter in the first three months of 2023, according to MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased in the fourth quarter.
Real GDP had increased 3.2% in the third quarter.