US GDP grew at 2.9% pace in fourth quarter as economy cools

• January 26, 2023
• realestatelife
• Business & Markets, Fed, Interest Rates, Politics & Economy, Rates, Real Estate, Real Estate Finance, Recession, World News, Your Real Estate Life

The U.S. economy ended 2022 on solid footing, but momentum seems to have cooled slightly as consumers confront the dual threat of stubbornly high inflation and rising interest rates.

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, grew by 2.9% on an annualized basis in the three-month period from October through December, the Commerce Department said in its first reading of the data on Thursday. Refinitiv economists expected the report to show the economy had expanded by 2.6%. 

It marked a decline from the 3.2% pace recorded in the third quarter. 

“The economy is not yet finished absorbing the body blow to the economy caused by the bulk of the supersized rate hikes that the Fed imposed during the second half of the year,” said RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas. “Despite the resilient close to a difficult year in growth, we just do not see such a happy ending to a turbulent era of American economic growth.”