U.S. economic growth slipped downward in the final three months of last year due to a six-week government shutdown, the Associated Press reported.
The nation’s gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — increased at a 1.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, down from 4.4% in the July-September quarter and 3.8% in the quarter before that.
Expectations are that growth will be modest this year.
Business investment, outside data centers and other equipment dedicated to artificial intelligence, grew at only a moderate pace.
Economists said the underlying growth that focused on consumer and business spending was mostly resilient.
Consumer spending rose 2.4%, below the third quarter’s 3.5% gain. Federal government outlays dropped nearly 17% amid the shutdown.
