U.S. economy grew 2.4% in the 4th quarter after upgrade in final growth estimate [View all]

Source: Associated Press, via Yahoo! Finance

U.S. economy grew 2.4% in the 4th quarter after upgrade in final growth estimate

PAUL WISEMAN
Thu, March 27, 2025 at 8:37 AM EDT * 2 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy expanded at a healthy annual 2.4% pace the final three months of 2024, supported by a year-end surge in consumer spending, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade of its previous estimate of fourth-quarter growth. ... But it’s unclear whether the United States can sustain that growth as President Donald Trump wages trade wars, purges the federal workforce and promises mass deportations of immigrants working in the country illegally.

Growth in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — decelerated from a 3.1% pace in July-September 2024, the Commerce Department said. ... For all of 2024, the economy — the world’s biggest — grew 2.8%, down a tick from 2.9% in 2023. ... Consumer spending rose at a 4% pace, up from 3.7% in third-quarter 2023. But business investment fell, led by an 8.7% drop in investment in equipment. ... A drop in business inventories shaved 0.84 percentage points off fourth-quarter GDP growth.

A category within the GDP data that measures the economy’s underlying strength rose at a healthy 2.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter, slipping from the government's previous estimate of 3.2% and from 3.4% in the third quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.

Wednesday’s report showed continued inflationary pressure at the end of 2024. The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge – the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index – rose at an annual rate of 2.4%, up from 1.5% in the third quarter and above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PC inflation registered 2.6%, compared to 2.2% in the third quarter.

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Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-economy-grew-2-4-123742572.html

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From the source, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

https://www.bea.gov/news/2025/gross-domestic-product-4th-quarter-and-year-2024-third-estimate-gdp-industry-and

Gross Domestic Product, 4th Quarter and Year 2024 (Third Estimate), GDP by Industry, and Corporate Profits

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024 (October, November, and December), according to the third estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 3.1 percent.



The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected increases in consumer spending and government spending that were partly offset by a decrease in investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.

Real GDP was revised up 0.1 percentage point from the second estimate, primarily reflecting a downward revision to imports. For more information, refer to the "Technical Notes" below.

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