The U.S. economy continued to grow in the fourth quarter, although not at the white-hot rate it had been in the second and third quarters of this year. The Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product grew at a 2.6% annualized rate in the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter did not match the booming annualized growth rates of 4.6% and 5% in the second and third quarter, respectively, bringing the year to a muted end. The 5% clip the economy reached in the third quarter was the fastest quarterly growth rate since 2003.
Overall, the economy grew only 2.4% in 2014 compared to 2.2% in 2013. But 2014 did have an especially strong labor market that created almost 3 million jobs, the biggest single-year job creation figure since the booming late 1990s.
The Commerce Department attributed the fall of at the end of the year to greater imports (which subtract from GDP) and less spending by the federal government, while spending by consumers increased by over 4%, compared to just over 4% in the third quarter. The fourth quarter number is, however, only an estimate that will get revised twice in the coming months.