The U.S. economy grew by 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, after expanding by 2.2 percent in the previous quarter, the U.S. Department of Commerce-Bureau of Economic Analysis said today in a statement. The strong fourth quarter growth exceeded the expectations of many economists who had projected 4.7 percent real GDP growth and is the fastest pace since 2003.
Caution is advised however, as the figure released today is an advance estimate:
“The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency.
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, exports, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE). Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.
The acceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected an acceleration in private inventory investment, a deceleration in imports, and an upturn in nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by decelerations in federal government spending and in PCE.
Motor vehicle output added 0.61 percentage point to the fourth-quarter change in real GDP after adding 1.45 percentage points to the third-quarter change. Final sales of computers subtracted 0.03 percentage point from the fourth-quarter change in real GDP after subtracting 0.08 percentage point from the third-quarter change.”
