US growth likely slowed last quarter but still pointed to a resilient economy
The government is expected Thursday to report that the U.S. gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — rose at an annual rate of around 2% from October through December
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's economy was supposed to have sunk into recession by now, dragged down by the highest interest rates in two decades and a resulting slump in borrowing and spending.
Instead, the U.S. economy has kept chugging along. Even more encouraging, inflation, which touched a four-decade high in 2022, has edged steadily lower without the painful layoffs that most economists had thought would be necessary to slow the acceleration of prices.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department is expected to report that the nation’s gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — rose at an annual rate of around 2% from October through December.
That would mark a deceleration from a vigorous 4.9% growth rate in the July-September quarter. But it would still showcase the surprising durability of the world's largest economy, marking the sixth straight quarter in which GDP has expanded at a solid annual pace of 2% or more. Helping fuel that growth has been steady spending by consumers, whose purchases drive more than two-thirds of the economy.
