01/30/2025

The U.S. Economy is Resilient Despite Growth Moderation in Q4 2024

Fourth-quarter GDP increased at 2.3 percent rate

U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter as a strike at Boeing depressed business investment in equipment, but consumer spending increased at its fastest pace in nearly two years, underscoring strong domestic demand that probably keeps the Federal Reserve on a slow interest rate cut path this year.

The moderation in growth last quarter reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday was also because businesses struggled to keep up with the surge in demand, partly driven by households preemptively buying goods ahead of tariffs on imports that have been promised by President Donald Trump.

Inventories at businesses were almost depleted. There was a surprise decline in imports, despite imports helping to boost the goods trade deficit to a record high in December, which had prompted economists to sharply downgrade their fourth-quarter growth estimates.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Reuters.